Multifactorial Assessment of Older Adults Able and Unable to Recover Balance During a Laboratory-induced Trip

BACKGROUND:Older adults are prone to falls, and identifying fallers and non-fallers from a set of fall-related variables is essential while establishing effective preventive programs.AIMS:This study aimed to analyze if a set of parameters (i.e., strength, functional status, dynamic balance, gait, and obesity-related anthropometric measures) differ between older adults able and unable to recover from an induced trip.OBJECTIVE:To analyze predictors among older adults able and unable to identify fallers and nonfallers.METHODS:Thirty healthy old adults were tripped once during the mid-swing phase of the gait. The trip outcome was used as a criterion to assign participants to a recovery (REC; n=21; 71.2±5.7 years; 70.9±12.8 kg; 1.60±0.09 m) or a non-recovery group (NREC; n=9; 69.4±6.8 years; 85.7±11.8 kg; 1.59±0.08 m). The spatiotemporal gait parameters, functional mobility, dynamic balance, and isokinetic muscular function were measured.RESULTS:The NREC presented larger BMI (33.6±2.7 vs. 27.5±3.4 kg.m-2; p<0.05); greater time for the initiation phase on the voluntary step execution test (197.0±27.9 vs. 171.7±31.3s; p<0.05); lower plantarflexor (0.41±0.15 vs. 0.59±0.18 N.m; p<0.05), dorsiflexor (0.18±0.05 vs. 0.24±0.07 N.m; p<0.05), knee extensor (1.03±0.28 vs. 1.33±0.24 N.m; p<0.05) and knee flexor peak torques (0.50±0.15 vs. 0.64±0.13 N.m; p<0.05); and greater time up and go (8.0±0.8 vs. 7.4±0.7 s).CONCLUSION:The results showed that it is possible to identify fall risk components based on several fall-related parameters using a laboratory-induced trip as the outcome variable.