Effects of an eight-week composite plantar sensory exercise on postural stability in older adults: a randomised...

The purpose of our study is to examine the effects of an eight-week composite plantar sensory exercise on plantar sensation, ankle proprioception and postural control in healthy older adults.

108 healthy older adults were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 54) or the control group (n = 54). The intervention group received composite plantar sensory exercise which included plantar vibration/perception training and walking exercise (3 times per week for 8weeks), while the control group only received walking exercise. Postural stability (static and dynamic), plantar sensation (tactile sensation/vibration sensation/discrimination) and ankle proprioception (ankle kinesthesia/joint position sense/force sense) were tested.

Over the 8-week intervention, the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in the static postural stability test especially under challenging test conditions (p < 0.05). Moreover, intervention group showed a marked reduction in the centre of gravity sway velocity during eyes open eyes closed in single-leg stance tasks (p < 0.05). Furthermore, intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in plantar tactile sensation/vibration sensitivity in six tested positions (p < 0.05) and ankle kinesthesia threshold of ankle plantarflexion/dorsiflexion/inversion/eversion compared with controls (p < 0.05).

Composite plantar sensory exercise improves sensory feedback and static postural stability in healthy older adults-particularly under challenging condition such as visual conflict/visual conflict and unstable surface conditions. These findings highlight the potential of plantar sensory training for fall prevention strategies in aging populations.