Influence of kyphosis posture on postural control and lower limb mechanical load immediately after stopping walking.
Chihiro Niibo, Tomoaki Matsuda, Hidefumi Fukuda and 1 others
PMID 35291473WHAT IT FOUND
Forcing a healthy young man into a slumped, kyphotic posture just before he stops walking does not change how long it takes him to stabilise.
It does, however, increase side-to-side sway and shifts the work of stopping from the hip to the ankle.
Key findings
01The time taken to stabilise after stopping (the critical time interval) was not significantly different between normal and kyphosis postures.
02Sway in the short-term region was significantly higher in the kyphosis posture, indicating less stable balance immediately after stopping.
03In the kyphosis posture, the hip and knee joints switched from an extension to a flexion moment pattern, and the ankle joint power became significantly more negative, indicating a shift in how the lower limbs control the stop.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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 study was conducted on 18 healthy young men, so the results may not apply to older adults or people who actually have kyphosis due to disease or age. The kyphosis posture was artificially created using a brace, which may not replicate the natural muscle weakness or pain associated with real kyphosis. Participants knew they were going to stop (planned stopping), which differs from the sudden, unplanned stops that often cause falls. The sample size was small and the study design was cross-sectional, limiting the generalisability of the findings.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these findings apply directly to older adults with osteoporotic kyphosis. The subjects were healthy young men whose posture was artificially held by a brace, and their neuromuscular control is likely very different from that of a frail elderly person with a natural, painful deformity.