Acute effects of wearing compression knee-length socks on ankle joint position sense in community-dwelling older adults.

Functional proprioceptive information is required to allow an individual to interact with the environment effectively for everyday activities such as locomotion and object manipulation. Specifically, research suggests that application of compression garments could improve proprioceptive regulation of action by enhancing sensorimotor system noise in individuals of different ages and capacities. However, limited research has been conducted with samples of elderly people thus far. This study aimed to examine acute effects of wearing knee-length socks (KLS) of various compression levels on ankle joint position sense in community-dwelling, older adults. A total of 26 participants (12 male and 14 female), aged between 65 and 84 years, were randomly recruited from local senior activity centres in Singapore. A repeated-measures design was used to determine effects on joint position awareness of three different treatments-wearing clinical compression socks (20-30 mmHg); wearing non-clinical compression socks (< 20 mmHg); wearing normal socks, and one control condition (barefoot). Participants were required to use the dominant foot to indicate 8 levels of steepness (2.5°, 5°, 7.5°, 10°, 12.5°, 15°, 17.5°, and 20°), while standing on a modified slope box, in a plantar flexion position. Findings showed that wearing clinical compression KLS significantly reduced the mean absolute errors compared to the barefoot condition. However, there were no significant differences observed between other KLS and barefoot conditions. Among the KLS of various compression levels, results suggested that only wearing clinical compression KLS (20-30 mmHg) improved the precision of estimation of ankle joint plantar flexion movement, by reducing absolute performance errors in elderly people. It is concluded that wearing clinical compression KLS could potentially provide an affordable strategy to ameliorate negative effects of ageing on the proprioception system to enhance balance and postural control in community-dwelling individuals.

Immediate effects of wearing knee length socks differing in compression level on postural regulation in community-dwelling, healthy, elderly men and women.

BACKGROUND: Stimulation of lower limbs' cutaneous receptors and mechanoreceptors through compression garments could potentially increase somatosensory system efficiency and aid postural regulation in elderly individuals. RESEARCH QUESTION: This study examined immediate effects of wearing knee length socks (KLS) of various compression levels on somatosensory function in community-dwelling healthy elderly men and women during a double-limb standing, balancing task. METHODS: A total of forty-six elderly participants (Male = 23), aged between 65 and 84 years old, randomly selected from the Singapore community-dwelling, healthy population. Three treatment interventions (wearing clinical compression socks; wearing non-clinical compression socks; wearing commercial socks) and one control condition (barefoot), in a counterbalanced order, were administered to participants while they performed a 30-s Romberg test, with four levels of performance difficulty: (1) standing on a stable surface with vision (SO); (2) a stable surface without vision (SC); (3) a foam surface with vision (FO); and (4), a foam surface without vision (FC). RESULTS: Results showed that immediate effects of applying KLS of various compression levels significantly reduced sway area, trace length, velocity, and anterior-posterior (AP) sway as compared to barefoot condition (control) during the FO task condition. SIGNIFICANCE: This finding indicates the positive immediate effects of garments on somatosensory system function and postural regulation in the elderly men and women, especially when standing on the unstable surface. Wearing compression KLS could be included as a viable intervention on top of other forms of balance training to reduce risk of falling in elderly people.

Effects of different lower-limb sensory stimulation strategies on postural regulation-A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Systematic reviews of balance control have tended to only focus on the effects of single lower-limb stimulation strategies, and a current limitation is the lack of comparison between different relevant stimulation strategies. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine evidence of effects of different lower-limb sensory stimulation strategies on postural regulation and stability. Moderate- to high- pooled effect sizes (Unbiased (Hedges' g) standardized mean differences (SMD) = 0.31-0.66) were observed with the addition of noise in a Stochastic Resonance Stimulation Strategy (SRSS), in three populations (i.e., healthy young adults, older adults, and individuals with lower-limb injuries), and under different task constraints (i.e., unipedal, bipedal, and eyes open). A Textured Material Stimulation Strategy (TMSS) enhanced postural control in the most challenging condition-eyes-closed on a stable surface (SMD = 0.61), and in older adults (SMD = 0.30). The Wearable Garments Stimulation Strategy (WGSS) showed no or adverse effects (SMD = -0.68-0.05) under all task constraints and in all populations, except in individuals with lower-limb injuries (SMD = 0.20). Results of our systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that future research could consider combining two or more stimulation strategies in intervention treatments for postural regulation and balance problems, depending on individual needs.

Falls, Cognitive Function, and Balance Profiles of Singapore Community-Dwelling Elderly Individuals: Key Risk Factors.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared occurrence of falls, cognitive function, and balance profiles across participants in elderly age categories, investigating associations between the 3 aspects in a sample of Singapore's elderly population. METHOD: Community-dwelling elderly individuals (N = 385) were randomly recruited and grouped into "young-old (65-74 years)," "medium-old (75-84 years)," and "oldest-old (above 85 years)" groups. The Fallproof Health and Activity questionnaire, adapted Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) tests were used to survey information related to falls, cognition, and balance profiles. RESULTS: Findings revealed significant differences in MMSE and BBS scores across the age groups. Participants with mild cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR] = 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-3.25) and BBS score ≤40 (OR = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.14-0.46) were at the highest risk of falling. CONCLUSION: Community-dwelling elderly individuals with subtle cognitive impairment and BBS scores ≤40 displayed an increased risk of falling.

Effect of different attentional instructions on the acquisition of a serial movement task.

Recent research in attentional focus of instruction has predominantly over-emphasized the investigation of discrete and continuous skills rather than serial skills. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the effect of different attentional focus instructions on learning a serial skill task (i.e., taekwondo routine) in novice learners. It was predicted that the use of movement outcome instructions could enhance the learning of a serial skill as previously supported in studies examining the acquisition of discrete and continuous skills. Thirteen female participants were recruited for this study and were assigned to either movement form condition - control group (n = 7) or movement outcome condition - treatment group (n = 6). All participants underwent 12 practice sessions over an 8-week period with their respective instructional conditions with each session lasting 30 minutes. Video recording of the serial skill tasks (hand techniques, kicking techniques and 10-step routine) were captured at "the-twelfth-training session", "after 1-week", and "after 1-month". It was found that more participants in the treatment group obtained a higher score in all three serial skill tasks, especially in Mastery component of 'Kicking' techniques at 'after 1-week' (p < 0.05, r = 0.57). This study suggested that movement outcome instructions have positive medium effect on balance control for serial skill task, especially in kicking actions. Key PointsMovement outcome (MO) instructions have a positive impact on learning a serial task, especially in kicking actions.More functional coordination during movement executions for MO participants.Benefits for MO instructions may be individual specific.