Age-Related Changes of the Anticipatory Postural Adjustments During Gait Initiation Preceded by Vibration of Lower Leg Muscles

Gait initiation (GI) challenges the balance control system, especially in the elderly. To date, however, there is no consensus about the age effect on the anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs). There is also a lack of research on APAs in older adults after proprioceptive perturbation in the sagittal plane. This study aimed to compare the ability of young and older participants to generate APAs in response to the vibratory-induced perturbation delivered immediately before GI. Twenty-two young and 22 older adults performed a series of GI trials: (1) without previous vibration; (2) preceded by the vibration of triceps surae muscles; and (3) preceded by the vibration of tibialis anterior muscles. The APAs magnitude, velocity, time-to-peak, and duration were extracted from the center of pressure displacement in the sagittal plane. Young participants significantly modified their APAs during GI, whereas older adults did not markedly change their APAs when the body vertical was shifted neither backward nor forward. Significant age-related declines in APAs were observed also regardless of the altered proprioception.The results show that young adults actively responded to the altered proprioception from lower leg muscles and sensitively scaled APAs according to the actual position of the body verticality. Contrary, older adults were unable to adjust their postural responses indicating that the challenging transition from standing to walking probably requires higher reliance on the visual input. The understanding of age-related differences in APAs may help to design training programs for the elderly specifically targeted to improve balance control in different sensory conditions, particularly during gait initiation.