Postural control and strength and mood among older adults

Falls are a significant problem among older adults. Reported correlates of older adult falls have included determinations in leg muscle strength and declines in postural control. However, some investigators have reported low correlations between measures of strength and postural control among older adults. Other investigators have reported that attention demands in this group are inversely related to their postural control. No study has attempted to predict postural control from mood precursors or from knee and ankle strength among older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between postural control and strength and mood precursors to attention among older adults. Twenty-seven older adults (m = 73.8 years) completed the 16-item Mood Response Scale, which measures total mood, and three subscales conceptualized to be precursors of the subject's ability to focus attention: alertness, contentedness, and calmness. Measures of each subject's isometric knee and ankle strength and postural control also were collected. Using stepwise regression analysis the investigators found that alertness accounted for the greatest amount of variance in all three measures of postural control (R2 = 20 to 27). Additionally, ankle strength, calmness, and age considerably increased the explained variance in postural sway with eyes closed (total R2 = 416). Age was not a significant predictor of the other two measures of postural control. The findings suggest that alertness, a precursor to attention among older adults, is a significant predictor of postural control when vision is intact but that other factors assume importance when vision is impaired. These findings indicate that the postural stability of older adults may be improved, and falls reduced, through interventions which enhance the alertness and attention among older adults.