A survey on relationship between postural sway parameters and balance recovery strategies in older people

Background and Objective: Aging has been associated with deterioration in postural control, which manifests itself by an increase in postural sway. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between postural sway parameters and used balance recovery strategies in older people in response to sudden perturbations.



Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 30 elderly men participated in the study. Postural sway parameters were evaluated using the Biodex balance system. Then, balance recovery strategies were recorded by six high-speed cameras after sudden movement of the treadmill. Finally, Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship between postural sway parameters and balance recovery strategies in the elderly.



Results: The results showed there is a significant relationship between the postural sway parameters in the elderly and their balance recovery strategies in response to anterior-posterior perturbations (P<0/05). The results also showed there is no significant relationship between the postural sway parameters in the elderly and their balance recovery strategies in response to posterior-anterior perturbations (P>0/05).



Conclusion: According to the findings, it seems that balance recovery strategies in response to sudden perturbations in the elderly are risk factors for reducing the ability of postural control, especially in the anterior-posterior perturbations.