Balance and Falls Flashcards
Postural control involves controlling the body’s position in space for what 2 things?
- Stability
- Orientation
The underlying causes of falls is a complex interaction of what 4 factors?
- Biomedical
- Physiological
- Psychosocial
- Environmental
Falls are a result of loss of what?
postural control
Essentially, what does balance require?
keeping the Center of Mass (COM) over the Base of Support (BOS) during static and dynamic situations
What are the 3 neural components of postural control?
- Sensory processes
- Central processing
- Effector
What can be defined as the maximum angle from vertical that can be tolerated?
Limits of Stability
OR
“Cone Stability”
With the ankle strategy, is control proximal to distal or distal to proximal?
distal to proximal
When utilizing the ankle strategy and trying to recover from a forward sway, what muscles are active?
- paraspinals
- hamstrings
- gastroc
When utilizing the ankle strategy and trying to recover from a backward sway, what muscles are active?
- abdominals
- quads
- tibialis posterior
With the hip strategy, is control proximal to distal or distal to proximal?
proximal to distal
When utilizing the hip strategy and trying to recover from a forward sway, what muscles are active?
- abdominals
- quads
When utilizing the hip strategy and trying to recover from a backward sway, what muscles are active?
- paraspinals
- hamstrings
Do older adults tend to utilize ankle or hip strategy?
hip
Describe how the suspensory strategy can help maintain balance
bending the knees during standing or ambulation enhances stability
What can be defined as postural adjustments that are made before voluntary movements to minimize disturbances in balance (feed forward)?
Anticipatory Postural Control
During perturbance of balance, _____ rely on somatosensory inputs.
Whereas _____ rely more on visual input.
adults
children
What are the 3 different parts of the sensory system provide different sources of information about the body’s position and movement in space?
- vision
- somatosensory
- vestibular
What does vision provide information about?
the position and motion of the head in the environment.
Visual ____ detects subtle differences in shapes
acuity
What does the somatosensory system provide information about?
the body with reference to supporting surfaces
What does the somatosensory system receive information from?
- muscle spindles
- joint receptors
- tendon organs
- mechanoreceptors
What are 2 ways to grossly assess proprioception?
Detecting the subtle movement of the big toe (
What does the vestibular system provide information about?
the position and movement of the head, in reference to gravity and inertial forces
Vestibular information is received from the vestibule responsible for position and _____ acceleration
linear
Vestibular information is received from the semi-circular canal responsible for ______ movement
rotational
What functional task is a strong predictor of fall risk in the community?
rising from a chair
A score of __ seconds or higher on the Five Times Sit to Stand Test (FTSST) demonstrates a modest ability to predict those at risk of falls
13
What percentage of older adults who experience a fall develop a fear of falling?
1/3
What are 2 measures that can be used to assess fear of falling?
- Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I)
- Falls Efficacy Scale (FES)
More than __% of older adults (50 years or more) reported participation restriction following a fall.
50
A reach less than _ inches on the functional reach test predicts the risk of falling within the next 6 months
6
A score less than __ on the Berg Balance test is associated with a high risk for falls
45
A score less than or equal to __ indicates the individual has a 100% chance of falling within the next 6 months
36
A score less than or equal to __ on the DGI was found to be predictive of falls in older adults
19
An older adult who takes longer than __ seconds on the TUG is classified as a faller
13.5
