Postural instability in cognitively impaired elderly during forward and backward body leans.
Błażej Cieślik, Dagmara Chamela-Bilińska, Bożena Ostrowska and 1 others
PMID 31417224WHAT IT FOUND
During maximum forward and backward leans, older adults with cognitive impairment showed more side-to-side sway than healthy older adults.
Front-to-back sway was similar.
Key findings
01During forward lean, the cognitive impairment group had 32% larger total sway area and about 30% higher frontal-plane values, while total mean radius did not differ significantly.
02During backward lean, total sway area differed by over 30% and frontal-plane parameters differed by over 35%, while sagittal-plane mean velocity and path length did not differ significantly.
03The main sagittal-plane parameters did not show statistically significant differences in either forward or backward lean.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The groups were small, so the results may not apply broadly to all older adults with cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment was sorted by a screening score, and a small score difference could move someone between groups. The study measured standing lean tests and did not follow participants to see who fell. The paper did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that any treatment improves stability.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that cognitive impairment causes falls or that lateral sway is the cause. This study compared two groups at one time and did not measure falls during follow-up.