@article{ref1,
title="Fear of falling and postural performance in the elderly",
journal="Journal of gerontology",
year="1991",
author="Maki, B. E. and Holliday, Pamela J. and Topper, A. K.",
volume="46",
number="4",
pages="M123-31",
abstract="A cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the association between fear of falling and postural performance in the elderly. One hundred ambulatory and independent volunteers (aged 62-96) were subjected to five types of balance tests: (a) spontaneous postural sway, (b) induced anterior-posterior sway, (c) induced medial-lateral sway, (d) one-leg stance, and (e) a clinical balance assessment scale. Pseudorandom platform motions were used in the induced-sway tests. The subjects were classified into both &quot;faller&quot;/&quot;nonfaller&quot; and &quot;fear&quot;/&quot;no-fear&quot; categories, to allow the influence of fear of falling and falling history to be separated in the analyses. Subjects who expressed a fear of falling were found to exhibit significantly poorer performance in blindfolded spontaneous-sway tests and in eyes-open, one-leg stance tests. The clinical scale was the only balance measure that showed a significant association with retrospective, self-reported falling history. We could not ascertain whether the fear of falling affected balance-test performance in an artifactual manner, or whether the fear and poorer performance were related to a true deterioration in postural control. Until this issue can be resolved, balance-test performance should be interpreted with caution when testing apprehensive individuals. Furthermore, studies of postural control and falling should allow for the potentially confounding influence of fear of falling.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-1422",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}