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Updated: Jun 2, 2025
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A Modified Lean and Release Technique to Emphasize Response Inhibition and Action Selection in Reactive Balance
Published on: March 19, 2020
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In a visual inverted pendulum balancing task avoiding impending falls gets harder as we age
Hannah E Park1, Avijit Bakshi2, James R Lackner2
1Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory, Brandeis University, MS 033, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA. hepark@brandeis.edu.
Experimental Brain Research
|January 15, 2025
Summary
Older adults (OA) exhibit poorer balance control than younger adults (YA) in a simulated inverted pendulum task, making fewer corrective and more destabilizing joystick commands when nearing a fall.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Human Motor Control
- Gerontology
Background:
- Human postural control involves complex sensorimotor integration.
- Age-related changes in muscle strength and reflex responses can impact balance.
- The visual inverted pendulum (VIP) is a model system to study balance and control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the balance control strategies of younger adults (YA) and older adults (OA) using a joystick-controlled VIP.
- To investigate how simulated age-related decrements (increased gain, delay) affect performance.
- To identify distinct command dynamics associated with falling versus recovery.
Main Methods:
- Participants (YA and OA) stabilized a VIP using a joystick.
- Joystick parameters simulated age-related muscle weakness and reflex slowing.
- Performance metrics included fall incidence, position/velocity variance, and command types (corrective, destabilizing, inactive).
Main Results:
- Older adults had higher fall incidence and worse stability/variability than younger adults.
- Older adults used fewer corrective and more destabilizing commands, particularly when falls were imminent.
- Command patterns (inactive, corrective, destabilizing) predicted time to fall.
- Older adults showed less frequent and prompt corrective commands relative to destabilizing ones.
Conclusions:
- Older adults exhibit age-related deficits in balance control, characterized by altered motor command strategies.
- The findings suggest a decision-making process in motor control that differs with age, especially under challenging conditions.
- These insights may inform interventions for fall prevention in older populations.
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