Walking on a Balance Beam as a New Measure of Dynamic Balance to Predict Falls in Older Adults and Patients with Neurological Conditions.

Background: Beam walking is a new test to estimate dynamic balance. We characterized dynamic balance measured by the distance walked on beams of different widths in five age groups of healthy adults (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years) and individuals with neurological conditions (i.e.

Gait control to step into a lowered surface with one limb with different demands for accuracy in younger and older adults.

Walking in a daily life context requires constant adaptations to meet the environment's requirements for successful locomotion. We investigated the walking adaptations of younger and older adults when dealing with holes of different lengths in the pathway (60-cm long and 1.3 times foot length [critical point] conditions).

Trunk balance control during beam walking improves with the haptic anchors without the interference of an auditory-cognitive task in older adults.

Background: Prior studies have shown that older adults reduced trunk acceleration when walking on a balance beam with haptic inputs provided by anchors; however, it is unknown whether these benefits would remain in the presence of a concurrent cognitive task.

Research Question: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a cognitive task on balance control when using the anchors while walking on a balance beam in older adults.

Methods: Thirty older adults participated in this study.

Stability control in older adults with asymmetrical load carrying when stepping down a curb.

We investigated the effect of asymmetric load carrying using different bag types with the dominant and non-dominant hands on upper limb coordination, walking adaptations, and stability control in a curb-descend task in older adults. Fourteen participants walked on a pathway with a 16-cm curb located in the middle. They walked without a load or asymmetrically carrying a load corresponding to 7% of their body mass.

The Critical Point to Step into a Hole is Similar in Young and Older Adults.

The avoidance of a hole in the pathway while walking has been systematically investigated; however, depending on the dimensions of the hole, the option to avoid it is infeasible, and it is necessary to use the so-called accommodation strategy to step into the hole. We investigated the critical point between the avoidance and accommodation strategies when dealing with a hole in the ground during locomotion of young and older adults. Young and older adults performed two tasks: verbal estimation and walking.

Haptic information provided by anchors and the presence of cognitive tasks contribute separately to reducing postural sway in young adults.

Background: Haptic information provided by the anchors reduces postural sway while standing upright. It is unclear whether this benefit would remain in the presence of cognitive tasks combined with a more challenging postural task.

Research Question: Our aim was to investigate the effects of the anchors and visual and auditory cognitive tasks on postural control in young adults in a challenging balancing task.

Additional Haptic Information Provided by Anchors Reduces Postural Sway in Young Adults Less Than Does Light Touch.

This study investigated the effect of adding haptic information to the control of posture, as well as comparing the effect of both the "light touch" (LT) and "anchor system" (AS) paradigms on postural sway. Additionally, it compared the effect of location and number of points of contact to the control of posture in young adults. The location consisted of using the anchors tied to the finger and held by the hands, and, for LT, the fingertip.

Haptic information and cognitive-visual task reduce postural sway in faller and non-faller older adults.

Understanding the effects of haptic input while performing a cognitive-visual task on postural control can broaden comprehension of the functional integration hypothesis in older adults with and without a history of falls. We aimed to investigate the effect of haptic input provided by light touch (LT) and the anchors while performing a cognitive-visual task in faller and non-faller older adults when standing upright. Twenty-two fallers and twenty-two non-fallers older adults participated in this study.

The role of vision in Parkinson's disease locomotion control: free walking task.

The current study addressed the role of visual information in the control of locomotion in people with Parkinson's disease. Twelve healthy individuals and 12 mild to moderate Parkinson's disease patients were examined while walking at self-selected velocities, under three visual sampling conditions: dynamic (normal lighting), static (static visual samples) and voluntary visual sampling. Subjects wore liquid crystal glasses for visual manipulation.