Multi-joint Coordination Underlies Upright Balance Control in Elderly With Osteoporosis

National Taiwan University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Osteoporosis

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01504230

201104056RB

Details and patient eligibility

About

Osteoporosis is a prevalent health concern among older adults and is associated with an increased risk of falls that can cause fracture, injury and even mortality. Identifying the factors related to falls occur within this population is essential for the development of effective regimes for fall prevention. The long-term objectives of this work are to ascertain the mechanisms for effectively controlling balance in seniors with osteoporosis and to provide a basis for developing fall prevention programs. The entire body's center of mass (CoM) is a critical indicator for balance control and the coordination among joints and muscles to control the CoM is still unclear. The aim1 of this study is to develop biomechanical models that control the entire body's center of mass (CoM) during upright quiet stance in seniors with osteoporosis. The aim2 of this study is to identify the mechanism to control the entire body's CoM after receiving a balance perturbation in seniors with osteoporosis. The findings of this research can provide needed information regarding the processes of balance control in this vulnerable osteoporosis population, and has the potential to be applied to individuals with other neuromuscular and orthopedic deficits.

Enrollment: 50 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65 to 85 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• for healthy older adults (OA)

  1. can stand for 5 minutes and walk for 6 minutes independently
  2. normal or corrected to normal vision
  3. an age between 65-85 years
  4. no osteoporosis (T-score above -2.5)

• for osteoporosis participants (OP)

  1. can stand for 5 minutes and walk for 6 minutes independently
  2. normal or corrected to normal vision
  3. an age between 65-85 years
  4. no osteoporosis (T-score below -2.5)

Exclusion criteria

1. pregnant women
2. cancer diagnosis
3. sensory-motor deficits
4. the BMI is larger than 30 or smaller than 18

Trial design

50 participants in 2 patient groups

health older adults

Osteoporosis participants