Citation

Buccello-Stout RR, Cromwell RL, Bloomberg JJ, Whorton EB. J. Aging Phys. Act. 2013; 21(3): 272-289.

Affiliation

Neuroscience Laboratories, Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering, Houston, TX.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23006335

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine if exposure to sensorimotor adaptation training improved head stabilization in older adults. Sixteen participants, aged 66-81 years, were assigned at random to the control group (n=8) or the experimental group (n=8). Both groups first completed six trials of walking a foam pathway consisting of a moveable platform that induced a lateral perturbation during walking. Head-in-space and trunk-in-space angular velocities were collected. Participants from both groups then trained twice per week for 4 weeks. Both groups walked on a treadmill for 20 minutes. The control group viewed a static scene. The experimental group viewed a rotating visual scene that provided a perceptual-motor mismatch. After training, both groups were retested on the perturbation pathway test. The experimental group used a movement strategy that preserved head stabilization compared to the controls (p < 0.05). This training effect was not retained after 4 weeks.

Language: en