Effect of Aging on the Vibration of Human Body in the Vertical Direction during Quiet Stance

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The risk to fall has clinical relevance in prognosis of elderly people. We analyzed aging effects on the physiological properties of the vertical ground reaction force of healthy subjects and examined whether it can be used as an index for postural instability and risk to fall.We analyzed stabilometric data from 1795 healthy volunteers (3 - 93 years old). Vertical acceleration was computed from the load-cell records and underwent frequency analysis. The multiple comparison test was performed by age groups at every frequency within the detected significant band.Variances in vertical acceleration were high in juveniles and elderly people. Both acceleration power at 1.5-2 Hz and power ratio of eye closure to the open eye at 2-6 Hz were markedly high and decreased by 20 years of age. Age groups from 20 to 60 years had low stable power profiles and the age groups over 60 years showed increased power at 5-8 Hz relative to aging.Our findings suggest that the postural instability of young people evoked by eye-closure accounts for 3-Hz vibration and that increased power in elderly subjects around 6.5 Hz has a strong correlation with aging.
2009-08-01