Functional Mobility and Balance in Community-Dwelling Elderly Submitted to Multisensory Versus Strength Exercises

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• Aging progressively impairs sight, vestibular input, and somatosensory information, which results in a reduction of environmental perception and precision of movements.
• In addition, aging also impairs functioning of movements by reducing the number of muscle and nerve fibers, which brings a reduction to muscle strength and power

• Can begin as early as age 50

• Blinded randomized control study with 46 community dwelling elderly adults (between 60-75 years old) with 2 groups; strength training group & multisensory training, 2x weekly for 12 weeks
• Evaluated by the Timed up and go (TUG), Guralnick test battery (lower extremity functional test: static balance, ability to stand from a chair, and walking speed. Each item is scored on a scale of 0 to 4. ), and a force platform
• By the end of the treatment, the multisensory training group showed significant improvement with TUG, Guralnick test and mediolateral and anteroposterior displacement compared to the strength training group
• What did the multisensory group engage in?
• Warm up period
• Stretching of the hip flexors/extensors, extensors of the knees, ankle and paraspinal musculature
• Exercises to simulate plantar surface of feet, and dynamic balance
• Forward, backward, sideways walking all with Eyes Opened (EO) and Eyes Closed (EC) at varied speeds
• Obstacle courses
• Motor coordination incorporating movement of upper/lower extremities with and without visual stimuli
• What did the strengthening group engage in?
• The muscle strengthening program was performed using six different resistance devices: chest press, rowing, leg press, calves, abdominal, and lumbar extension, with varying resistance. These devices were chosen because they load the main muscle groups.
• This study showed that multisensory exercises are more efficacious than strength exercises performed in isolation, for the improvement of functional mobility in the elderly 

Resource:

Fábio Marcon Alfieri, Marcelo Riberto, Lucila Silveira Gatz, Carla Paschoal Corsi Ribeiro, José Augusto Fernandes Lopes, José Maria Santarém & Linamara Rizzo Battistella (2010) Functional mobility and balance in community-dwelling elderly submitted to multisensory versus strength exercises, Clinical Interventions in Aging, 5:, 181-185, DOI: 10.2147/cia.s10223

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2147/cia.s10223?scroll=top&needAccess=true&role=tab