Jk. Rankin et al., Cognitive influence on postural stability: A neuromuscular analysis in young and older adults, J GERONT A, 55(3), 2000, pp. M112-M119
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science","Medical Research General Topics
Journal title
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
Background. Previous literature indicates that attentional resources are re
quired for recovery of postural stability. previous studies have also exami
ned the effect of aging on the performance of a static postural task while
a secondary cognitive task is being conducted. This study describes the eff
ect of a cognitive task on the neuromuscular response characteristics under
lying reactive balance control in young versus older adults.
Methods. The attentional demand on the neuromuscular system was examined in
14 young and 12 healthy older adults by analysis of the integrated electro
myography activity while the adults were performing a dual-task paradigm. T
he primary task involved standing platform perturbations and the secondary
task was a math task that involved subtraction by threes. Integrated electr
omyography activity was compared between the cognitive (math and balance) t
ask versus control(balance only) task.
Results. For both groups of subjects, onset latency of postural muscle resp
onses did not change under dual-task conditions. In contrast, the amplitude
of postural muscle activity was significantly affected by performance of a
secondary task. When electromyography data were combined for both young an
d older adults, there was a decrease in muscle response amplitude in both a
gonist (gastrocnemius) and antagonist (tibialis anterior) muscles when the
cognitive math task was performed. This was apparent at 350-500 millisecond
s from plate onset for the gastrocnemius and between 150 and 500 for the ti
bialis anterior. When young and older adults were compared, an age by task
interaction effect was seen in muscle response amplitude for the agonist (g
astrocnemius) muscle between 350 to 500 milliseconds. with older adults sho
wing a significantly greater reduction than young adults.
Conclusion. The decline of muscle activity when the secondary task was perf
ormed suggests that less attentional processing capacity was available for
balance control during the dual-task paradigm. The results also indicate th
at the dual-task activity has a greater impact on balance control in the ol
der adults than in the young adults.