Falls in the elderly are common and are hazardous. Almost one-third of a community-dwelling elderly, including many who are in good health, fall each year and more than five percent of those who fall experience fractures. This Project 3, Biomechanics of Falls And Fall Arrests in Old Adults, centrally focused on the biomechanics underlying the high incidence of falls and fall-related injuries among the elderly. Quantitative studies of performance of tasks that are time-critical and have high strength requirements (TC/HS tasks), representative of tasks that arise during near-falls and falls, will be conducted to test a series of hypotheses concerning age and gender differences in abilities to (1) stop suddenly while walking, (2) recover balance by taking a step rapidly, and (3) arrest a full fall by use of arms. Abilities of old, healthy and mostly physically-quite-active adults (OA) will be compared with those of health young adults (YA). Some slightly disabled OA will also be tested in stopping suddenly. The fundamental biochemical sources of those age differences will be sought, along with their neuropsychological correlates. The neuropsychological status of the subjects will be assessed. Body segment kinematics, myoelectric latencies and support surface reactions will be measured. Joint torques and torque rates will be computed. Responses will be analyzed using inverse-dynamics, and direct dynamics (""""""""what if"""""""") models of two types: torque-data-driven and goal-driven. Understanding of the biomechanical and neuropsychological issues that this Project addresses will enable earlier and more focused detection of declines in mobility-related task capabilities. It will show what aspects of age declines in physical capabilities are truly critical to postural maintenance, balance recovery and the safe arrest of full fails. It thus will lead to improved assessment of risk for fall injuries and more- carefully-directed interventions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01AG010542-08
Application #
6438574
Study Section
Project Start
2001-04-01
Project End
2002-03-31
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Type
DUNS #
791277940
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Votruba, Kristen L; Persad, Carol; Giordani, Bruno (2016) Cognitive Deficits in Healthy Elderly Population With ""Normal"" Scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 29:126-32
Albin, Roger L; Burke, James F; Koeppe, Robert A et al. (2013) Assessing mild cognitive impairment with amyloid and dopamine terminal molecular imaging. J Nucl Med 54:887-93
Hernandez, Manuel E; Goldberg, Allon; Alexander, Neil B (2010) Decreased muscle strength relates to self-reported stooping, crouching, or kneeling difficulty in older adults. Phys Ther 90:67-74
Kim, Kyu-Jung; Ashton-Miller, James A (2009) Segmental dynamics of forward fall arrests: a system identification approach. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 24:348-54
Schulz, Brian W; Ashton-Miller, James A; Alexander, Neil B (2008) The effects of age and step length on joint kinematics and kinetics of large out-and-back steps. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 23:609-18
Schulz, Brian W; Ashton-Miller, James A; Alexander, Neil B (2007) Maximum step length: relationships to age and knee and hip extensor capacities. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 22:689-96
Schulz, Brian W; Ashton-Miller, James A; Alexander, Neil B (2007) A kinematic analysis of the rapid step test in balance-impaired and unimpaired older women. Gait Posture 25:515-22
Murphy, Susan L; Gretebeck, Kimberlee A; Alexander, Neil B (2007) The bath environment, the bathing task, and the older adult: a review and future directions for bathing disability research. Disabil Rehabil 29:1067-75
Ahmed, Alaa A; Ashton-Miller, James A (2007) On use of a nominal internal model to detect a loss of balance in a maximal forward reach. J Neurophysiol 97:2439-47
Schulz, Brian W; Ashton-Miller, James A; Alexander, Neil B (2006) Can initial and additional compensatory steps be predicted in young, older, and balance-impaired older females in response to anterior and posterior waist pulls while standing? J Biomech 39:1444-53

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