Older Adult Exhibit Lower Peak Muscle Power during Single Step Balance Recovery

The purpose of this study was to investigate agerelated differences in muscle power during a surrogate task of trip recovery. Participants included 10 healthy young men (19–23 years old) and 10 healthy older men (65–83). The task involved releasing participants from a forward-leaning posture. After release, participants attempted to recover their balance using a single step of the right foot. Muscle power at the hip, knee, and ankle of the stepping limb were determined from the product of joint angular velocity and joint torque. Muscle powers during balance recovery followed a relatively consistent pattern in both young and older men, and showed effects of both lean and age. Interestingly, the effects of age did not always involve smaller peak power values in the older men as expected from the well-documented loss of muscle power with aging. Older men exhibited smaller peak muscle power at the knee and larger peak muscle power at the ankle and hip compared to young men. The increases in muscle power at the ankle and hip may result from a neuromuscular adaptation aimed at improving balance recovery ability by compensating for the age-related loss of muscle function.

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Athlete older women and sedentary controls: compairing the incidence of frailty, physical aspects and falls

ABCS Health Sciences ◽

10.7322/abcshs.45.2020.1483 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 ◽

pp. e020021

Author(s):

Letícia Pophal da Silva ◽

Ariadne Leal Santana ◽

Carolina Sayuri Santos Suzuki ◽

Natália Boneti Moreira

Keyword(s):

Older Women ◽

Older Adult ◽

Muscle Power ◽

Fear Of Falling ◽

Functional Dependence ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Functional Mobility ◽

Adult Women ◽

Adult Health ◽

Frailty Phenotype

Introduction: The aging process results in falls, frailty, and functional dependence. However, the practice of physical exercises can prevent negative impacts on the older adult health. Objective: To compare the incidence of frailty, physical aspects, and number of falls among older adult women and sedentary controls. Methods: The study has a cross-sectional design and included 70 community-dwelling older adult women (73.96±7.52 years). The frailty phenotype (Fried Criteria) and the history of falls in the last 12 months were analyzed, followed by the evaluation of muscle power (Five times Sit-to-Stand Test), functional mobility (Time Up and Go), balance (Mini BESTest) and fear of falling (Falls Efficacy Scale). The Mann Whitney and Chi-Square tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: The frailty rate among sedentary women (Pre-frail: 42.9%; Frail: 57.1%) was different from athlete women (Non frail: 100%). The rate of falls was the same in both groups (25.7%), however, sedentary controls fell at home (100%), while older adult athlete women fell in sports activities (88.9%). The athletes showed better scores (p<0.001) in all physical aspects when compared to the sedentary controls in muscle power (11.25 vs 24.10 seconds), functional mobility (10.01 vs. 16.04 seconds), balance (27 vs 19 points) and fear of falling (16 vs 27 points). Conclusion: Ahlete older women had lower frailty rates and fear of falling, as well as better physical aspects. The characteristics of falls were different, indicating the need and the importance of contemplating the lifestyle in prevention programs promoting healthy life for older adults.

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Effect of arm swing on single-step balance recovery

Human Movement Science ◽

10.1016/j.humov.2014.08.011 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 ◽

pp. 173-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Kuangyou B. Cheng ◽

Yi-Chang Huang ◽

Shih-Yu Kuo

Keyword(s):

Single Step ◽

Arm Swing ◽

Balance Recovery

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Biomechanics of Step Initiation After Balance Recovery With Implications for Humanoid Robot Locomotion

Journal of Biomechanical Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.4032468 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 138 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Christine Miller Buffinton ◽

Elise M. Buffinton ◽

Kathleen A. Bieryla ◽

Jerry E. Pratt

Keyword(s):

Humanoid Robot ◽

Center Of Mass ◽

Human Motion ◽

Single Step ◽

The Body ◽

Balance Recovery ◽

Joint Torques ◽

Double Support ◽

Step Initiation ◽

Capture Point

Balance-recovery stepping is often necessary for both a human and humanoid robot to avoid a fall by taking a single step or multiple steps after an external perturbation. The determination of where to step to come to a complete stop has been studied, but little is known about the strategy for initiation of forward motion from the static position following such a step. The goal of this study was to examine the human strategy for stepping by moving the back foot forward from a static, double-support position, comparing parameters from normal step length (SL) to those from increasing SLs to the point of step failure, to provide inspiration for a humanoid control strategy. Healthy young adults instrumented with joint reflective markers executed a prescribed-length step from rest while marker positions and ground reaction forces (GRFs) were measured. The participants were scaled to the Gait2354 model in opensim software to calculate body kinematic and joint kinetic parameters, with further post-processing in matlab. With increasing SL, participants reduced both static and push-off back-foot GRF. Body center of mass (CoM) lowered and moved forward, with additional lowering at the longer steps, and followed a path centered within the initial base of support (BoS). Step execution was successful if participants gained enough forward momentum at toe-off to move the instantaneous capture point (ICP) to within the BoS defined by the final position of both feet on the front force plate. All lower extremity joint torques increased with SL except ankle joint. Front knee work increased dramatically with SL, accompanied by decrease in back-ankle work. As SL increased, the human strategy changed, with participants shifting their CoM forward and downward before toe-off, thus gaining forward momentum, while using less propulsive work from the back ankle and engaging the front knee to straighten the body. The results have significance for human motion, suggesting the upper limit of the SL that can be completed with back-ankle push-off before additional knee flexion and torque is needed. For biped control, the results support stability based on capture-point dynamics and suggest strategy for center-of-mass trajectory and distribution of ground force reactions that can be compared with robot controllers for initiation of gait after recovery steps.

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The effects of strength and power training on single-step balance recovery in older adults: a preliminary study

Clinical Interventions in Aging ◽

10.2147/cia.s59310 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 697 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anthony P Marsh ◽

Eric Haakonssen ◽

Michael Madigan ◽

Michael Miller ◽

Joseph Zaccaria ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Single Step ◽

Power Training ◽

Balance Recovery ◽

Preliminary Study

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The Exoskeleton Balance Assistance Control Strategy Based on Single Step Balance Assessment

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app9050884 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 884 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fusheng Zha ◽

Wentao Sheng ◽

Wei Guo ◽

Shiyin Qiu ◽

Xin Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Control Strategy ◽

Control Experiment ◽

Assessment Method ◽

Single Step ◽

Assessment Methods ◽

Balance Assessment ◽

Balance Recovery ◽

Exoskeleton Robot ◽

Human Balance ◽

Balance Loss

A novel balance assistance control strategy of a hip exoskeleton robot was proposed in this paper. The organic fusion of the human balance assessment and the exoskeleton balance assistance control strategy are the assurance of balance recovery. However, currently there are few human balance assessment methods that are suitable for detecting balance loss during standing and walking, and very little research has focused on exoskeleton balance recovery control. In this paper, a single step balance assessment method was proposed first, and then based on this method an "assist-as-needed" balance assistance control strategy was established. Finally, the exoskeleton balance assistance control experiment was carried out. The experiment results verified the effectiveness of the single balance assessment method and the active balance assistance control strategy.

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