Citation

Sample RB, Jackson K, Kinney AL, Diestelkamp W, Smoot Reinert S, Bigelow KE. J. Appl. Biomech. 2016; 32(6): 541-547.

Affiliation

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

10.1123/jab.2016-0038

PMID

27398708

Abstract

Falls occur in 33% of older adults each year, some leading to moderate to severe injuries. To reduce falls and fall related injuries, it is important to identify individuals with subtle risk factors elevating their likelihood of falling. The objective of this study was to determine how postural sway measures differed between fallers and non-fallers under standard and dual-task conditions. Quiet-standing posturography measures were collected from 150 older adults during standard, cognitive, manual and cognitive+manual tasks, and analyzed through traditional and non-linear analyses. Of the traditional measures, M/L sway range and 95% confidence ellipse sway area showed statistically significant differences in all four test conditions between fallers and non-fallers. Although the manual dual-task showed the most stable balance, effect sizes demonstrated larger differences between fallers and non-fallers. Non-linear analysis revealed M/L sample entropy and M/L α-scaling exponent differentiating between fallers and non-fallers with the cognitive task demonstrating larger differences. Based on the results, it is recommended to: 1) apply M/L sway range and 95% confidence ellipse area, 2) utilize the manual task to differentiate between fallers and non-fallers when using traditional analyses, and 3) utilize the cognitive task and M/L alpha and M/L sample entropy when using non-linear analyses.

Language: en