Fall- and BBS-related differences in muscle strength and postural balance of the elderly.
Jin-Seung Choi, Dong-Won Kang, Jeong-Woo Seo and 3 others
PMID 27799709WHAT IT FOUND
Active older women who had fallen and those who had not looked almost the same in strength and Berg Balance Scale scores.
A sensor sway measure differed, but the Berg scale alone did not separate fallers.
Key findings
01Faller and non-faller groups did not differ significantly in physical characteristics or muscle strength.
02A sensor sway frequency measure differed between fallers and non-fallers (p=0.018).
03Berg-based balance groups differed in height, muscle strength, and time-domain sway measures.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was only 71 active elderly women, so the results may not apply to men, less active older adults, or people who use walking aids. The study compared existing groups and did not report follow-up or test whether any measure predicted future falls. The healthy balance and impaired balance groups were created using the Berg score, so differences between them are tied to that grouping. The faller and non-faller groups differed significantly in only one sensor variable among many, and the authors say fragmentary strength and Berg measures did not allow fall classification.
Declared interests
No funding or conflict-of-interest statement is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read a low Berg Balance Scale score as proof that an active older woman is a faller. In this study, fallers and non-fallers had similar Berg scores, and the scale did not significantly separate the groups.