title: Age-related differences in center of pressure measures during one-leg stance are time dependent.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in center of pressure (COP) movement in four time intervals (5, 10, 15 and 30 s) during a one-leg stance test performed by young and elderly adults. Twelve young adults (mean 20 years) and 12 elderly subjects (mean 68 years) participated in this study. The subjects performed three 30 s trials of an eyes open one-leg stance test on a force platform, in which the COP parameter was computed at four points in time from same original COP signal. Significant differences were found between the young and elderly adults (P < .007) only at the 10, 15 and 30 s intervals. For both groups, COP changes were significantly different between the 5 s time interval and other intervals (10, 15 and 30 s). In conclusion, these results pointed out that age-related difference in COP changes were time dependent. This suggests that the use of longer durations increases the possibility of distinguishing more subtle differences in postural strategy among different groups of subjects.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Science Research, Laboratory of Functional Evaluation and Human Motor Performance LAFUP, Universidade Norte do Paraná UNOPAR, Londrina-PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rodolfo B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Parreira
authors.forename: Marcela C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Boer
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rabello
authors.forename: Viviane de Souza P
authors.initials: Vde S
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Eros
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Rubens A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011312:Pressure; D013997:Time Factors; D014785:Vision, Ocular; D055815:Young Adult