title: Down training of the elderly soleus H reflex with the use of a spinally induced balance perturbation.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the elderly central nervous system to modulate spinal reflex output to functionally decrease a spinally induced balance perturbation. In this case, the soleus H reflex was used as the source of perturbation. Therefore, decreasing (down training) of the soleus H reflex was necessary to counteract this perturbation and to better maintain postural control. In addition to assessing the effect of this perturbation on the H reflex, static postural stability was measured to evaluate possible functional effects. Ten healthy young subjects (age: 27.0 +/- 4.6 yr) and 10 healthy elderly subjects (age: 71.4 +/- 5.1 yr) participated in this study. Subjects underwent balance perturbation on 2 consecutive days. On day 1 of perturbation, significant down training of the soleus H reflex was demonstrated in both young (-20.4%) and elderly (-18.7%) subjects. On day 2 of perturbation, significant down training of the soleus H reflex was again demonstrated in both young (-24.6%) and elderly (-21.0%) subjects. Analysis of static stability after the 2 days of balance perturbation revealed a significant 10.1% decrease in the area of sway in elderly subjects. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that healthy, elderly subjects compared with young subjects were equally capable of down training the soleus H reflex in response to a balance perturbation. Furthermore, the improvement in static stability through balance training may provide further evidence that balance can be retrained and rehabilitated in subjects with decreased reflex function.
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599, USA. mynark@email.unc.edu
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Mynark
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Koceja
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006181:H-Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*; D016683:Supine Position / Q000502:physiology