Evaluation of postural control of aging change by stabilogram diffusion analysis

Abstract

Falling is one of the most common and serious problems because advancing age has been associated with muscle weakness and deterioration of postural control system. The mechanisms contributing to age-related increases in ability of postural control and falls in the elderly remain unclear. The purpose of the stabilogram diffusion analysis(SDA)method was to study change of the mechanism of postural control between young and elderly generation. Any parameters of SDA were compared with several parameters of body sway derived from recordings of the center of pressure(COP)with the aid of a static force platform. The subjects were48healthy young volunteers(age: 18-64yeas, mean±S. D: 33. 6±14. 6years)and41 healthy elderly volunteers(age: 65-87years, mean±S. D: 77.7±4.3years). They quietly stood on a static force plat form with o pen and closing eyes for thirty seconds. The following results were indicated. 1. The elderly group was a significantly than the young group greater in the Diffusion constant Drs and the mean square critical displacement when eyes open and eyes closed. 2. On the elderly group, the correlation between SDA parameters and COP parameters was found to be greater in the closing eye condition than that in the open eye condition. 3. The correlations between diffusion coefficient and the range o f anterior-posterior was greater than the correlations between the diffusion coefficients and the range of medio-lateral. Thus, the muscle of the tibialis anterior and the planter muscles was suggested.