Citation

Zhang F, Deshpande N. Motor Control 2015; 20(1): 21-32.

Affiliation

School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

10.1123/mc.2014-0046

PMID

25675141

Abstract

15 young (20-30 years) and 15 older (>65 years) healthy participants were recruited to investigate age-related differences in the head and trunk control under suboptimal vestibular (GVS) and vision conditions during the normal and narrow-based walking (NB). Head roll velocity decreased in blurred vision condition and marginally increased with GVS in older but not in young. Head pitch increased, while head roll velocity decreased in NB. Trunk pitch, trunk pitch velocity and gait speed increased with GVS, while trunk pitch velocity and gait speed decreased in NB. Marginally increased head roll velocity in older people possibly suggests decreased integrative ability of the CNS in elderly. The changes in head control during NB may be an attempt to simplify the interpretation of the vestibular signal and increase otoliths sensitivity. The complexity of controlling trunk in M-L direction was suggested by different strategies used for trunk control in different conditions.

Language: en