euromuscular reflex performance in aging: differences between active elderly and elderly with a history of falling

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Withdrawn

Sex: Not specified

Target Recruitment: 20

Inclusion Criteria

Patients:
Symptomatic fallers (>65) who seek professional assistance for this problem at the outpatient clinic for falling issues of the Geriatric Department of the LUMC. The falling should be judged to be mostly of loco motor origin, not resulting from e.g. cardiovascular diseases, problems in the field of E, N & T, impaired cognition or neurological disorders of central origin;Tinetti score equal or below 10 on the balance section;Controls:
Age- (within one year deviation per patient), sex- and arm dominance- matched; ;Active, high performers, taking part in sports activities, e.g. cycling, swimming, tennis, walking (at least * hour/ week).;Predominantly healthy

Exclusion Criteria

Patients:
History of previous or current neurological disorders of central origin, e.g. Parkinson, Multiple Sclerosis or Stroke.;Restricted movement of wrist and/or ankle preventing patient from delivering the required task performance, e.g. recent fractures of wrist and/or ankle.;Restricted vision (< 0.5);Loss of sensibility of hand and/or the foot preventing the patient from delivering the required task performance.;Cognitive impairments (MMSE < 23), preventing the patient from understanding the instructions required for the task that has to be performed.;Other severe co- morbidity preventing patients from delivering the required task performance.;Controls:
Tinetti score below maximal score.;History of previous or current neurological disorders of central origin, e.g. Parkinson, Multiple Sclerosis or Stroke.;Restricted movement of wrist and/or ankle preventing patient from delivering the required task performance, e.g. recent fractures of wrist and/or ankle.;Restricted vision preventing patient from delivering the required task performance.;Loss of sensibility of the foot preventing from delivering the required task performance.;Cognitive impairments (MMSE < 23), preventing the patient from understanding the instructions required for the task that has to be performed.

Study & Design

Study Type: Observational non invasive

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
<p>reflex gain and reflex time delay; reflex modulation from relationship between<br /><br>damping conditions and reflex gain. </p><br>

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
<p>body length, length of lower arm and leg, Range of Motion of ankle and wrist,<br /><br>body weight and maximal voluntary contraction around wrist and ankle, outcome<br /><br>of falling questionaire, sensibility hand and foot, Tinettiscore (balance and<br /><br>walking section)</p><br>