Original Research Article
Year: 2016 | Month: December | Volume: 6 | Issue: 12 | Pages: 108-113
Surface Stability Affects Forward Reaction Time in Healthy Elderly Subjects
Libak Abou1, Paloma Vanessa Coelho Campos1, Juliana Siebra Barbosa1, Luis Mochizuki2, Gilmar Moraes Santos1
1Department of Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy Master Program, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, SC, Brazil.
2Graduate Program in Physical Activity Sciences EACH-USP, SP, Brazil.
Corresponding Author: Libak Abou
ABSTRACT
Background: Falls are a major problem in the elderly population. Assessment of postural stability in elderly on different surfaces is a challenge for clinicians and practitioners.
Aims: Our main objective was to assess and compare healthy elderly reaction time on an unstable and a stable surface support of the limits of stability (LOS).
Materials and Methods: Ten healthy elderly performed the limits of stability of the Computerized Dynamic Posturography under 2 conditions of surface support; condition 1: with a foam pad (Neurocom foam pad) to simulate an unstable surface and condition 2: without foam pad to mean a stable surface. Subjects had to move their center of pressure on four directions: forward, right, back, and left for each condition.
Results: The results indicated that there is a significant difference (p < 0.05) in reaction time of the limits of stability only in forward direction between both surface support conditions.
Conclusions: Training elderly balance on an unstable surface using a foam pad seems to be effective to improve reaction time while preparing elderly falls protection strategy.
Key words: Reaction time; Healthy elderly; Surface stability; Limits of stability.