Medial-lateral postural stability and balance in community dwelling women over 40 years of age

Jennifer C. Nitz
Nancy L. Low Choy
Rosemary C. Isles

Abstract

Objective:
To document the change in medial–lateral balance in women aged between 40 and 80 years.

Design:
A cross-sectional study of six measures of medial–lateral balance was undertaken.

Setting:
The Betty Byrne Henderson Centre for Women and Ageing, Royal Women's Hospital, Australia.

Subjects:
Five hundred and three community-dwelling women between 40 and 80 years of age were randomly recruited from a large metropolitan region with 366 subjects admitted after applying exclusion criteria.

Measurements:
The clinical measurements included the lateral reach and step tests while laboratory measurements were gathered from the Balance Master software programs for unilateral stance and limits of stability.

Results:
A significant decline in all measures (p < 0.02) was evident between the forties and sixties age decade cohorts. The clinical step test showed a significant (p < 0.001) decline between the forties and fifties groups. A significant correlation was shown between step test and unilateral stance (p < 0.001) and movement velocity, reaction time and end-point excursion centre of gravity (COG) on the limits of stability test (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:
This new evidence demonstrates that there is a significant decline in medial–lateral balance in women that occurs between their forties and sixties. Suggestions for further study were made.

© Copyright Arnold, 2003