A STUDY ON ANALYSIS OF BALANCING ABILITY AND EFFECTS OF UPHILL WALKING ON BALANCING ABILITY AGAINST ABRUPT ACCELERATION IN THE ELDERLY

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of body joint motions on postural control during postural sway, the relationship center of foot pressure (CFP) during postural sway and physical fitness, and the effects of an uphill walking on the balancing ability against abrupt acceleration in the elderly.Results were as follows :1) Larger change of angle of hip joint was noted in the elderly compared to the young group. Cross-correlation function between CFP and angle of hip joint in the elderly was relatively kept higher than in the young during postural sway. These results suggest that hip joint motion play the important role of postural control against abrupt acceleration in the elderly.2) Response time and CFP displacement in CFP against abrupt acceleration correlated significantly with strength of planterflexor and dorsiflexor muscles, and knee extensor and flexor muscles, flexibilities of ankle and hip joints, speed of walking as fast as possible.3) The uphill walking group showed significant shorter response times and CFP displacement during postural sway than the control group against abrupt acceleration. There were significant values in leg power, flexibility, agility, reaction time, and static balance in the uphill walking group than in the control group. Total response time in CFP in all subjects correlated significantly with agility, static balance, as well as CFP displacement correlating with leg power and flexibility. These results suggested that the uphill walking would be effective on the balancing ability against abrupt acceleration in the elderly.