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

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

Effects of training on postural control and agility when wearing socks of different compression levels

Study aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of training while wearing socks differing in compression level (clinical, sub-clinical, regular) on performance of static and dynamic balancing and agility tasks in healthy, physically active people. We sought to understand whether socks with different compression properties supported postural regulation and agility task performance by enhancing somatosensory perception, unskewed by specific age range effects. Material and methods: Participants comprised 61 adults aged 18-75 years, divided into three groups (two experimental groups wearing clinical or sub-clinical level compression socks, and one control group wearing regular non-compression socks during training). An 8-week (2 × 1h per week) intervention programme was administered to train static and dynamic balance and postural control, leg strength and agility. Results: A mixed model ANOVA revealed no differences in static and dynamic balance and postural control and agility performance between clinical, sub-clinical, and control groups before and after training. All groups significantly improved their test performance, suggesting that training had some benefit on motor performance. Conclusions: These results raised interesting questions requiring further investigation to examine the effects of wearing socks (with and without different levels of compression) on motor behaviours in specific groups of elderly vs. young participants, in physically active vs. less physically active people, and in performance settings outside standardized laboratory tests to study applications in natural performance environments

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 need

Effects of a Resistance Training Programme on Isokinetic Peak Torque and Anaerobic Power of 13-16 Years Old Taekwondo Athletes Running Head: Resistance Training and Taekwondo Athletes

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a 12 week (2 days per week) resistance training programme at an intensity of 50% of 1RM in adolescent males (13-16 years old) male taekwondo athletes on their isokinetic peak torque and anaerobic power. The intervention group (n=12) aged 14±1 years, participated in the prescribed resistance training programme along with the existing taekwondo skill/drill training (2 days/week), while the control group (n=11) aged 14±1 years, participated in an existing taekwondo skill/drill training only. Anaerobic power was estimated from Wingate anaerobic test. An isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex multi-joint system 3 pro, New York) was used in the collection of data from the knee (flexion/extension) and hip (flexion, extension, abduction and adduction) joints. Mean anaerobic power and peak anaerobic power in the intervention group increased 9% and 10%, respectively. However, these two variables in the control group significantly decreased from mid training to post training (11.5% and 16% respectively), (p&lt;0.001). There were no significant increase in peak torque, relative peak torque, average torque and average power on knee extension/flexion and hip extension/flexion in the intervention group. However, isokinetic hip average adduction power significantly (32%) increased from pre to mid training (p&lt;0.01) in the intervention group. In the control group, there were significant decreased on isokinetic hip average flexion power (22%) and isokinetic hip average abduction power (34%) from pre to post training and mid to post training respectively (p&lt;0.01). Hence it is concluded that the prescribed resistance training was able to elicit a significant increase in some of the isokinetic strength variables. However, it did not administer any effect on anaerobic power of the taekwondo athletes

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: Communitydwelling elderly individuals (N ¼ 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] ¼ 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] ¼ 1.08-3.25) and BBS score 40 (OR ¼ 0.25, 95% CI ¼ 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.peerReviewe

Summary of the search strategy and selection process based on included and excluded studies.

<p>Summary of the search strategy and selection process based on included and excluded studies.</p

Forest plots for eyes open condition.

<p>Vision: Eyes open; Surface: Stable; Task: Single-leg and double-limbs standing tasks; Population: Healthy young; Older adults; Lower-limbs’ injuries.</p

Risk of bias summary.

<p>Risk of bias summary.</p

Forest plots for single-leg standing balance task.

<p>Task: Single-Leg Stand; Vision: Eyes open and closed; Surface: Stable and foam; Population: Healthy young; Older adults; Lower-limbs’ injuries.</p