Background

Balance responses to perturbations often involve the arms in an attempt to either restore balance or protect against impact. Although a majority of research has been dedicated to understanding age-related changes in lower limb balance responses, there is a growing body of evidence supporting age-related changes in arm responses. This systematic review aimed to summarize differences in arm responses between older and younger adults under conditions requiring counterbalancing, reaching to grasping, and protection against impact.

Methods

Following a systematic review and critical appraisal of the literature, data regarding the arm response in studies comparing young and older adults was extracted. The resulting articles were also assessed for quality to determine risk of bias.

Results

Fifteen high quality studies were identified. The majority of these studies reported delayed onsets in muscle activation, differences in arm movement strategies, delayed movement timing, increased impact forces, and greater grasp errors in older compared to young adults. These differences were also identified under varied visual and cognitive conditions.

Conclusions

The studies included in this review demonstrate age-related differences in arm responses regardless of the direction and nature of the perturbation. These differences could provide insight into developing more targeted rehabilitation and fall prevention strategies. More research is needed to assess whether the identified age-related differences are a necessary compensation or a contributory factor to balance impairments and fall risk in older adults

中文翻译：

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对衰老中反应平衡扰动期间上肢反应的系统评价。

背景

平衡对摄动的反应通常涉及手臂，以试图恢复平衡或防止撞击。尽管大多数研究致力于了解下肢平衡反应中与年龄相关的变化，但越来越多的证据支持与手臂相关的年龄相关变化。这项系统的综述旨在总结在需要平衡，达到抓握和防止撞击的条件下，老年人之间的手臂反应差异。

方法

在对文献进行系统的审查和严格评估之后，提取了有关年轻人和老年人的研究中有关手臂反应的数据。还评估所得制品的质量以确定偏倚风险。

结果

确定了15项高质量研究。这些研究中的大多数报告说，与年轻人相比，老年人的肌肉活化延迟发作，手臂运动策略差异，运动时间延迟，冲击力增加以及较大的抓握错误。在不同的视觉和认知条件下也可以识别出这些差异。

结论

这篇综述中的研究表明，与年龄有关的手臂反应差异，无论扰动的方向和性质如何。这些差异可以为制定更有针对性的康复和预防跌倒策略提供见识。需要开展更多的研究来评估已识别出的与年龄相关的差异是补偿老年人的障碍和跌倒风险的必要补偿还是促成因素