Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the effects of age on hip proprioception, and determine whether age-related
hip proprioception declines disrupt balance.
Design
Survey of proprioception and balance differences between 3 age groups.
Setting
University balance laboratory.
Participants
Volunteer sample of independent community-dwelling adults (N=102) without sensory
or other neurologic impairments in 3 age groups: younger (mean age, 24.6y; range,
19–37y), mid-aged (mean age, 53.3y; range, 40–64y), and older adults (mean age, 76.3y;
range, 65–94y).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Hip joint position sense (JPS) and kinesthesia were measured using a custom-built
device. JPS error was determined by the magnitude of matching errors during vision
and no-vision conditions. Kinesthesia was evaluated by the ability to detect passive
limb rotation without vision. Postural sway was assessed during static stance and
measured using root mean square of center of pressure (COP) displacement and velocity
of COP displacement. Clinical balance and fear of falling were assessed with the mini-Balance
Evaluation Systems Test (mini-BESTest) and Activities-specific Balance Confidence
Scale, respectively.
Results
Both older and mid-aged adults had significantly increased JPS error compared with
younger adults (P<.05). Kinesthesia accuracy was significantly decreased in older adults compared with
mid-aged and younger adults (P≤.01). Both measures of proprioception error correlated with age (P≤.001). There were no relationships between hip proprioception error and postural
sway during static stance. However, older adults with lower proprioceptive error had
significantly higher mini-BESTest scores of dynamic balance abilities (P=.005).
Conclusions
These results provide evidence of significant hip proprioception declines with age.
Although these declines are not related to increases in postural sway, participants
with hip proprioception declines demonstrated disrupted dynamic balance, as indicated
by decreased mini-BESTest scores.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
ABC (Activities-specific Balance Confidence (Scale)), AP (anterior-posterior), CI (confidence interval), COPD (center of pressure displacement), COPV (velocity of center of pressure displacement), FDR (false discovery rate), JPS (joint position sense), mini-BESTest (mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test), ML (medial-lateral), RMS (root mean square)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 03, 2013
Footnotes
Supported by the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness through funding from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
