Effect of Aging on Trunk Muscle Function and Its Influence on Falls Among Older Adults

The objective was to determine whether trunk muscle function is influenced by the aging process and to identify if the trunk can be an important factor in older people's falls over a period of 1 year. The peak torque, rate of torque development, and torque steadiness of the trunk extensors and flexors were compared between a young group, older group (older adults with no episodes of falls), and older faller group (older adults who had suffered at least one fall episode over a period of 1 year) by one-way analysis of variance, followed by the post hoc Tukey test. The adjusted multivariate linear regression was applied to verify the association between the number of falls and the trunk parameters in older adults. The young group showed higher extensors and flexors peak torque and rate of torque development, and lower extensor torque steadiness at 10% when compared with older groups. Only trunk flexor peak torque showed a negative association with the number of future falls (p = .042), but there was no difference in trunk muscle function between the older group and the older faller group.