Moderate anxiety may improve functional balance in older women with low muscle strength: a preliminary observation

Anxiety commonly affects older individuals with negative consequences on various physical and motor performances such as balance. When coupled with age-related muscular strength loss, the effects on the ability to perform daily tasks could be particularly detrimental, particularly in older women who are more susceptible to anxiety, muscular strength losses and falls. The study aimed to verify the effects of anxiety on balance performance in relation to muscular strength level in healthy older women.

Twenty-six individuals aged over 64 years underwent tests for anxiety, static and dynamic balance, and hand-grip strength. Two-way ANOVA was performed with anxiety (anxious vs. non-anxious) and strength (high vs. low) as independent variables.

A significant main effect of anxiety and a significant interaction anxiety*strength for static balance were observed. The analysis of the interaction revealed a significant effect of anxiety on the non-preferred one-foot balance with differences between low and high strength subjects; for low levels of strength, anxious woman performed significantly better than non-anxious, for high levels of strength, anxiety had no effect.

Moderate levels of anxiety may support balance performance in low strength condition. These findings if further verified on larger samples could add important information on the role of anxiety on motor performance in aging.