Journal of Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Sciences

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Postural Sway Scientific Journals

The need to adapt workstations to elderly workers and to reduce disability associated with age is a major challenge for ageing populations. Ageing is often associated with falls, which can affect health. In the general elderly population, approximately one in three elderly people fall each year (WHO, 2008; Moyer, 2012). A fall is defined as any unexplained event that results in a person inadvertently coming to rest on the floor, ground, or lower level (Venes, 2009). A fall occurs when individuals are unable to maintain their centre of gravity within the base of support provided by their feet.

 

Falls are caused by either intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors include, e.g., the environment like the floor, shoes, lighting, and the activity performed (Hignett & Masud, 2006). Intrinsic factors are person-related and may determine impaired postural control. Older age is especially crucial in this respect. The nervous system integrates visual, vestibular and somatosensory information on joint angles and changes in those angles to maintain an upright body posture. Age-related changes in the nervous system and muscles decrease sensitivity of the control of body posture and may contribute to balance problems common with increasing age (Jeong, Park, Choi, Lee, & Kim, 2011; Melzer, Kurz, & Oddsson, 2010).

Balance control is essential for accurate movements and locomotion skills, which are vital for activities of daily living. This is true for both static and dynamic conditions. Static balance is defined as the ability to maintain and control the centre of mass of the body during quiet upright standing exemplified by slow drifts and occasional rapid corrections (Collins & Luca, 1995). Static body balance can be described with measures, which characterize those displacements with the behaviour of a point corresponding to the projection of the centre of gravity on the base (centre of pressure, CoP). Traditional measures of the displacement of the CoP during stationary, upright standing quantify the movement of the CoP trajectory under the assumption that it is a stationary time series.

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