Previous research has reported that younger adults make fewer cognitive errors on an auditory vigilance task while in chest-deep water compared with on land. The purpose of this study was to extend this previous work to include older adults and to examine the effect of environment (water vs land) on linear and nonlinear measures of postural control under single- and dual-task conditions.
Twenty-one older adult participants (age = 71.6 ± 8.34 years) performed a cognitive (auditory vigilance) and motor (standing balance) task separately and simultaneously on land and in chest-deep water. Listening errors (n = count) from the auditory vigilance test and sample entropy (SampEn), center of pressure area, and velocity for the balance test served as dependent measures. Environment (land vs water) and task (single vs dual) comparisons were made with a Wilcoxon matched-pair test.
Listening errors were 111% greater during land than during water environments (single-task = 4.0 ± 3.5 vs 1.9 ± 1.7; P = .03). Conversely, SampEn values were 100% greater during water than during land environments (single-task = 0.04 ± 0.01 vs 0.02 ± 0.01; P < .001). Center of pressure area and velocity followed a similar trend to SampEn with respect to environment differences, and none of the measures were different between single- and dual-task conditions (P > .05).
The findings of this study expand current support for the potential use of partial aquatic immersion as a viable method for challenging both cognitive and motor abilities in older adults.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 199. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 May 2023.
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#198,110
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Outputs from Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy
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Outputs of similar age from Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy
#1
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Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 491 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 32 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
