Hip muscles strength and activation in older fallers and non-fallers

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Hip muscles dysfunction may challenge postural control mechanisms and compromise the individual in imbalance situations. OBJECTIVE: To compare hip muscles strength, power and activation between older female fallers and non-fallers. METHODS: Forty-four older adult women (60-85 yr) were divided into two groups based on having falling or not in the period of one year before evaluation, fallers (n = 20) and non-fallers (n = 24). Isokinetic strength and power were assessed during hip flexion, extension, abduction and adduction movements, while EMG signals were recorded from the internal oblique (IO), rectus femoris (RF), multifidus (MU), gluteus maximum (GM), and biceps femoris (BF). RESULTS: Fallers had significantly lower extension (p = 0.033), abduction (p = 0.001) and adduction (p = 0.002) strength as well as significantly lower power in hip flexion (p = 0.028), extension (p = 0.005) and abduction (p = 0.002) compared to non-fallers. Non-fallers had 27.4% greater activation of RF (p = 0.005) during hip flexion and 37.9% higher coactivation of IO/MU during hip abduction (p = 0.003). Significant linear regression was found between hip extension strength and GM and BF activation in both groups. CONCLUSION: Hip muscles strength and activation may increase the risk of falling in older women.

Hip muscle and hand-grip strength to differentiate between older fallers and non-fallers: a cross-sectional validity study

“…The increasing interest in hip muscle strength as a possible contributing factor to the fall risk of older people led to some studies in this field. 9 , 21 , 39 However, none of them have given an indication on the muscle strength variable that influences the outcome parameter, falls, the most. The importance of the leading ABD variables as analyzed by DGI is followed by ADD MVIS, but the AUC, as well as ABD RFG, of this variable remains below 0.7.…”

Different strength declines in leg primary movers versus stabilizers across age—Implications for the risk of falls in older adults?

“…Given the particular importance of the hip stabilizer strength, resistance training for the adductor and abductor muscles has been recommended for the elderly population [38,70]. However, inconclusive results are found in the literature on which exercise provides best effects.…”

“…In contrast, many other studies (see reviews by Doherty [32] or Vandervoort [20]) identifying age-related strength declines referred to a comparison of only one young and one old subject group. In order to provide comparability by minimizing anthropometric influences related to the subjects, strength values were expressed relative to the body weight [35,38,54–56] and accounting for lever arm lengths [46,81,92,100] or body height [84]. Furthermore, subject instruction and verbal support were standardized across all measurements to restrict a possible bias provided by the experimenter [101,102].…”

“…Similarly, Morcelli et al [37] found 49 percent lower peak torques in the hip extensors and 42 percent for the hip flexors of 67-year old women as compared to 21-year old women (1.1 percent and 0.9 percent decrease per year). In a previous study, Morcelli et al [38] had found 9, 12 and 13 percent lower strength during hip extension, abduction, and adduction in old fallers as compared to old non-fallers with an average age of 69 and 66 years.…”

Effects of supervised high-intensity hardstyle kettlebell training on grip strength and health-related physical fitness in insufficiently active older adults: The BELL pragmatic controlled trial

“…Reduced hip extension strength may compromise postural balance and increase falls risk in older adults (95) . Mean peak torque of the hip extensors at baseline in the present study, was higher than previously reported (36,95,96) however, peak force was lower than more recent data reporting 227.2 (56.7) N (97) . Pre-to post-training comparison showed a 6.7% increase in hip extension peak force in the right hip and 12.7% in the left hip, which is small but encouraging.…”