2020 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 63-71
This study was conducted to find out about the relationship between risk of falling and both evaluation of locomotive syndrome and motor functions of the toes, through a survey targeting 51 elderly men living in the community. The survey was composed of the following items：a simplified evaluation index for risk of falling；open-eye single-leg standing time measurement and Locomotive Syndrome Risk Test（two-step test, stand-up test, and GLFS-25）for locomotive syndrome evaluation；and ten-second toe movement test, toe grip force measurement, and toe pinch force measurement for evaluation of toe motor function. The results indicated that about one fourth of the subjects carried a risk of falling, with significant correlations between all measurement items and risk of falling（r ＞ 0.47, p ＜ 0.01）. This tendency was most prominent for the two-step test（r ＝− 0.679） in the locomotive syndrome evaluation, and toe grip force（r ＝− 0.574）in the toe motor function evaluation. These two factors reflect the toesʼ strengthwhen making contact with the ground, as well as dynamic balancing ability；therefore, it was suggested that training to improve these could lead to reduced risk of falling.
