Aging and vestibular disease on postural control

衰老和前庭疾病对姿势控制的影响

• 批准号: 6615691
• 负责人: Patrick J Sparto
• 金额: $ 10.62万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-08-15 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6615691
• 关键词: accidental falls; aging; balance; biomechanics; clinical research; computer simulation; head movements; human middle age (35-64); human old age (65+); human subject; labyrinth disorder; limb movement; model design /development; postdoctoral investigator; posture; proprioception /kinesthesia; training; visual feedback; visual stimulus

The primary objective of this career development award is to prepare the candidate to perform quantitative research as an independent investigator in the field of aging, specifically in the area of balance disorders of older adults. The candidate has backgrounds in mechanical and biomedical engineering and physical therapy. Consequently he has positioned himself to understand the problems of clinical populations and apply analytical techniques to study these problems in a quantitative fashion. The candidate intends to use this award to receive focused coursework and research training related to aging populations. The candidate intends to augment his education in the engineering and clinical sciences with coursework in two core areas: 1) aging and neurophysiology, 2) ethical training. Dr. Mark Redfern and Dr. Joseph Furman, two highly respected researchers, will mentor the candidate's research development. With their guidance, the candidate will receive intensive training in postural control research methods in the study of older adults and persons with vestibular disorders. The primary objective of this research is to increase our understanding of the combined effects of aging and vestibular disease on postural control in an effort to reduce the risk of falling in older adults. Patients with vestibular dysfunction commonly report a feeling of imbalance in situations with complex and rapidly changing visual stimuli such as in supermarkets. It is possible that reduced sensory function in older adults, or a slowing in central processing, may render the central integration of such information more difficult, resulting in greater imbalance. The proposed research will examine the postural sway response of older and younger adults, with and without vestibular disorders, as they view a moving visual scene. The first experiment will investigate the steady- state postural sway response to a scene that moves in a predictable manner for 60 seconds. The second experiment will examine the transient sway response to a scene that changes every 20 seconds. We hypothesize that the combined effects of aging and vestibular disease will result in greater postural sway during steady-state conditions, and that an inappropriate postural response will persist after the visual stimulus changes during transient conditions. Data obtained from these experiments will be used to validate feedback models of postural control. Understanding how older subjects with vestibular disorders integrate sensory information during these conditions will enhance our ability to develop balance rehabilitation programs in an effort to reduce the risk of falls in older adults.

该职业发展奖的主要目标是让候选人做好准备，作为衰老领域的独立研究者进行定量研究，特别是在老年人的平衡障碍领域。候选人具有机械和生物医学工程以及物理治疗背景。因此，他将自己定位于了解临床人群的问题，并应用分析技术以定量的方式研究这些问题。候选人打算利用该奖项来接受与人口老龄化相关的重点课程和研究培训。该候选人打算通过两个核心领域的课程来加强他在工程和临床科学方面的教育：1) 衰老和神经生理学，2) 道德培训。两位备受尊敬的研究人员马克·雷德芬博士和约瑟夫·弗曼博士将指导候选人的研究发展。在他们的指导下，候选人将接受针对老年人和前庭疾病患者的姿势控制研究方法的强化培训。这项研究的主要目的是加深我们对衰老和前庭疾病对姿势控制的综合影响的了解，以降低老年人跌倒的风险。患有前庭功能障碍的患者通常会在超市等复杂且快速变化的视觉刺激环境中感到不平衡。老年人的感觉功能下降或中央处理速度减慢可能会使这些信息的中央整合更加困难，从而导致更大的不平衡。拟议的研究将检查老年人和年轻人（无论是否患有前庭疾病）在观看移动的视觉场景时的姿势摇摆反应。第一个实验将研究以可预测方式移动 60 秒的场景的稳态姿势摇摆响应。第二个实验将检查每 20 秒变化一次的场景的瞬态摇摆响应。我们假设衰老和前庭疾病的综合影响将导致稳态条件下更大的姿势摇摆，并且在瞬态条件下视觉刺激发生变化后，不适当的姿势反应将持续存在。从这些实验中获得的数据将用于验证姿势控制的反馈模型。了解患有前庭障碍的老年受试者如何在这些情况下整合感觉信息将增强我们制定平衡康复计划的能力，以降低老年人跌倒的风险。