IMPROVE BALANCE IN THE ELDERLY
Supplements for exercising individuals
Antioxidant supplements
The simple exercise to take a weighted medicine ball can improve balance and help prevent falls in the elderly, according to a recent study by the University of Illinois at Chicago. The results are reported on two magazines: Electromyography and Kinesiology, and Experimental Brain Research.
"When someone is pushed by a bump or a stumble, the brain uses two strategies to maintain balance and prevent a fall," says Alexander Aruin, professor of physical therapy at UIC and lead author on the two studies.
"When the change is to be expected, for example, when you walk down the street and you see someone who is going to run into us, we prepare" said Aruin. "The brain is active and prepares the muscles in anticipation of impact
"The second strategy is corrective: the brain sends a message to the muscles after the collision and prevents you from losing your balance, making us go one step more, or changing body position.
As we age, we lose the anticipatory postural control, the ability to react to changes and maintain balance. Consequently, there is activation of preparation of the muscles, leaving only compensatory measures. In fact, our resources to maintain balance become more limited, and we become less stable and more prone to falls.
"We know a lot about the elements of postural control," said Aruin, who has studied this mechanism for 20 years. More recently, he and his colleagues have begun to investigate whether specific training or exercises that may improve the anticipatory adjustments and help people use them.
In one of the new studies, Aruin and his colleagues asked a group of healthy young adults to get up and take a medicine ball. In the second study, they asked the same of a group of healthy elderly.
The researchers measured the electrical activity of the legs and trunk muscles to look for differences in the ability of the two age groups' to generate anticipatory postural adjustments both before and after the training session.
Some improvements were observed in both groups. In the elderly, the researchers found that not only can improve, but also improve the performance of a task that was not part of the training.
"There is a transfer effect" said Ariun "Potentially what people learn in training could be useful for other activities."
"Our group is the first to examine whether a rehabilitation protocol specially designed can improve the regulation of postural control and subsequently improve the overall balance" concluded Aruin.
Source: Worldhealth
Supplements for exercising individuals
Antioxidant supplements