Adaptation of postural control to altered environments
Scientific context
With ageing, there is an increasing incidence of balance [1] and mobility [2] impairments, causing dramatic impact on health and quality of life [3]. Despite extensive study in the last thirty years, the laboratory and clinical measures of balance that have been developed are poorly predictive of fall risk, with very disparate reported levels of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy [4]. Our previous work shows that this may be because such studies neglect older adults’ inability to adapt postural control [5].