The ability to maintain balance deteriorates with increasing age. The aim was to investigate the role of age in generation of anticipatory (APA) and compensatory (CPA) postural adjustments during pushing an object. Older (68.8±1.0years) and young adults (30.1±1.4years) participated in the experiment involving pushing an object (a pendulum attached to the ceiling) using both hands. Electrical activity of six leg and trunk muscles and displacements of the center of pressure (COP) were recorded and analyzed during the APA and CPA phases. The onset time, integrals of muscle activity, and COP displacements were determined. In addition, the indexes of co-activation and reciprocal activation of muscles for the shank, thigh, and trunk segments were calculated. Older adults, compared to young adults, showed less efficient postural control seen as delayed anticipatory muscle onset times and delayed COP displacements. Moreover, older adults used co-activation of muscles during the CPA phase while younger subjects utilized reciprocal activation of muscles. The observed diminished efficiency of postural control during both anticipatory and compensatory postural adjustments observed in older adults might predispose them to falls while performing tasks involving pushing. The outcome provides a background for future studies focused on the optimization of the daily activities of older adults.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. 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 10 September 2015.
All research outputs
#25,076,393
of 34,763,505 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology
#914
of 1,377 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#203,977
of 305,174 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology
#15
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,763,505 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,377 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 305,174 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 26th percentile – i.e., 26% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 4th percentile – i.e., 4% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
