Cardiovascular response during postural change in the elderly
Article Abstract:
A drop in blood pressure while standing (orthostatic hypotension) produces several symptoms that can be troublesome when they occur in the elderly. All are the result of the body's attempt to respond to a sudden shift of blood to the legs; they include a quickened heart rate and a fall in blood pressure. These in turn may lead to faintness, lightheadedness, giddiness, or blurred vision. Some say that orthostatic hypotension occurs when systolic blood pressure readings drop 20 mm Hg, while others say the defining drop is 30 mm Hg. For purposes of this study, anyone who had a drop of 15 mm Hg or more was studied. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the heart rate and blood pressure during sitting, standing, and during the change from sitting to standing in 40 healthy men and women between the ages of 60 and 76. None of the subjects were taking medications that might cause orthostatic hypotension; all were living at home in the community. During the course of the trials, subjects were asked to perform mental arithmetic and to squeeze a handgrip to see if either or both of these activities changed the way the body responded. In general, older people have a flattened response to changes from sitting (or lying down) to standing positions than younger people. There was no difference between men and women in this study. External stimuli (the mental arithmetic and the handgrip squeeze, in this study) do raise blood pressure levels, it was found. The authors suggest that this may be one means of teaching those prone to orthostatic hypotension to avoid too marked a drop; biofeedback may also help. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1990
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Postural sway characteristics of the elderly under normal and altered visual and support surface conditions
Article Abstract:
Postural sway increases with age, but the effect of aging on sensory systems controlling posture is unclear. Progressive degeneration of sensory input from the legs and feet, a decrease in axons in the optic nerves, loss of spatial sensitivity, or reduction of hair cells and deterioration of other components of the inner ear may cause poor balance. There is no firm evidence that decreased sensory acuity increases postural sway. Balance may be the result of a complex synthesis of information from different sources. To determine how balance is maintained, 10 subjects in their early 20s were compared with 18 subjects between 70 and 80 years of age. They stood on both a normal and a foam-covered surface of a movable platform, once with their eyes open and again with them closed. The range, variability, speed and dispersion of sway were greater among elderly subjects than among the young subjects, and these reactions increased more among both the old and the young when the subjects had their eyes closed. However, blocking vision did not affect the older volunteers more than the younger ones. The results suggest that the less stable posture of the elderly is not caused by slower processing by the postural control system, but rather by a defect in the system. For the elderly subjects, balance was substantially more difficult when their eyes were closed and they had to rely on inputs from the inner ear alone. On the other hand, poor balance may be caused by an inability to adjust to the alteration of two senses at the same time. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1991
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Anticipatory postural adjustments in older adults: are changes in response characteristics due to changes in strategy?
Article Abstract:
The effects of aging on the ability to prepare postural adjustments for voluntary movements and to prime mover muscle response characteristics of young and older adults were evaluated in an arm-raising model across various arm movement velocity conditions. Results showed that arm movement velocities were similar for older and younger subjects. The observed differences in muscle timing and sequencing between older and younger subjects were related to aging.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1993
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