MEASURES OF POSTURAL STEADINESS - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HEALTHY-YOUNG AND ELDERLY ADULTS

Measures of postural steadiness are used to characterize the dynamics of the postural control system associated with maintaining balance dur ing quiet standing, The objective of this study was to evaluate the re lative sensitivity of center-of-pressure (COP)-based measures to chang es in postural steadiness related to age, A variety of time and freque ncy domain measures of postural steadiness were compared between a gro up of twenty healthy young adults (21-35 years) and a group of twenty healthy elderly adults (66-70 years) under both eyes-open and eyes-clo sed conditions, The measures that identified differences between the e yes-open and eyes-closed conditions in the young adult group were diff erent than those that identified differences between the eye condition s in the elderly adult group, Mean velocity of the COP was the only me asure that identified age-related changes in both eye conditions, and differences between eye conditions in both age groups, The results of this study will be useful to researchers and clinicians using COP-base d measures to evaluate postural steadiness.