Is there a relationship between complaints of impaired balance and postural control disorder in community-dwelling elderly women? A cross-sectional study with the use of posturography

• Autor(a) principal: Tanaka,Erika H.
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Santos,Paulo F., Reis,Júlia G., Rodrigues,Natalia C., Moraes,Renato, Abreu,Daniela C. C.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-35552015000300186
• topic: falls; postural balance; elderly; posture; physical therapy specialty

Background: Risk of falls increases as age advances. Complaints of impaired balance are very common in the elderly age group. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate whether the subjective perception of impaired balance was associated with deficits in postural control (objective analysis) in elderly community-dwelling women. Method: Static posturography was used in two groups: elderly women with (WC group) and without (NC group) complaints of impaired balance. The area, mean sway amplitude and mean speed of the center of pressure (COP) in the anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions were analyzed in three stances: single-leg stance, double-leg stance and tandem stance, with eyes open or closed on two different surfaces: stable (firm) and unstable (foam). A digital chronometer was activated to measure the time limit (Tlimit) in the single-leg stance. Kruskal-Wallis tests followed by Mann-Whitney tests, Friedman analyses followed by post hoc Wilcoxon tests and Bonferroni corrections, and Spearman statistical tests were used in the data analysis. Differences of p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The results of posturography variables revealed no differences between groups. The timed single-leg stance test revealed a shorter Tlimit in the left single-leg stance (p=0.01) in WC group compared to NC group. A negative correlation between posturography variables and Tlimit was detected. Conclusions: Posturography did not show any differences between the groups; however, the timed single-leg stance allowed the authors to observe differences in postural control performance between elderly women with and those without complaints of impaired balance.