%0 Journal Article
%T Visual dependence affects the motor behavior of older adults during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test
%J Archives of gerontology and geriatrics
%D 2019
%A Almajid, Rania
%A Tucker, Carole
%A Wright, William Geoffrey
%A Vasudevan, Erin
%A Keshner, Emily
%V 87
%N 
%P e104004-e104004
%X BACKGROUND: Older adults show greater postural instabilities under misleading visual cues relative to younger adults. We investigated the effects of age-related visual dependence on motor performance under increased attention demands by adding a motor task and visual stimulus to the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test sub-components. <br><br>METHOD: We designed a cross-sectional quantitative study. Twenty-eight younger (n = 12) and older (n = 16) adults completed the TUG test while wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) that presented a visual stimulus and/or carrying a cup of water. Outcome measures were turning cadence; gait speed; pitch, yaw, and roll peak trunk velocities (PTVs); and acceleration ranges of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit. <br><br>RESULTS: Wearing the HMD caused significant performance differences in the TUG test tasks due to age and visual dependence, although performance was lower across all groups with the HMD (p < 0.01). Older adults showed lower roll PTV in turning compared to younger adults (p = 0.03). Visually dependent older adults showed smaller mediolateral and vertical acceleration ranges (p < 0.04) in sit-to-stand compared to visually independent older adults. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The demand for orienting posture to a vertical position during sit-to-stand may differentiate older adults who are more visually dependent-and thus at greater fall risk- from those who are more visually independent. Age-related differences in turning behavior suggest a relationship with fall risk that warrants further investigation.<br><br>Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Elsevier Publishing
%@ 0167-4943
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2019.104004