To improve the balance of older folk and others, we have heard that they
definitely need to be doing circus balancing tricks on balls, wobble boards,
foam rollers and a host of other trendy little toys - right? Wrong! Some
intrepid researchers have found that a simpler and safer system is just to
gently and randomly excite the soles of the feet. It is interesting that
this random stimulation reduced the amount that older people swayed and that
they approached the stability of the younger group - to a far greater extent
than achieved using ball or related "unstable surface" exercises. .One
wonders what new toys will emerge from this research.
Read all about it here:
http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/10312002/graphb.htm
[Excerpts given...]
Posted 31 October 2002
How Grampa Lost His Wobble
As people age, they begin to lose their sense of balance and become ever more
likely to take a dangerous fall. But now researchers have hit on a technique
that could help the older generation stay on their feet. They found that
gently stimulating the bottom of the feet with random pokes increases a
person's stability.
Standing utterly still is physically impossible; everyone, young and old,
sways at least a little bit. The brain monitors several telltale signals to
keep the wobble under control, including balance signals from the inner ear,
visual cues, and small changes in pressure detected by the leg muscles and
feet. But researchers suspect that these sensors become less sensitive as
people age, and the body sways more before the automatic balance correction
kicks in.
Hoping to compensate for this breakdown, a team of researchers tried a trick
long known to engineers: adding random background noise to boost the weak
signals. Bioengineer James Collins of Boston University and colleagues
monitored fourteen 20-somethings and 16 senior citizens as they stood on a
perforated platform in their bare feet. In half of the trials, volunteers
were poked in a random pattern by small nylon rods extended through the holes
in the platform. This prodding was so gentle that volunteers didn't feel it.
No prodding occurred in the other half of the trials.
In an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters, the team reports that the
random stimulation reduced the amount that the older people swayed and that
they approached the stability of the younger group. Encouraged by these
results, the researchers are developing randomly vibrating insoles that could
be placed in the shoes of the elderly to improve their balance.......
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Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/
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