Article

Objective: To investigate the effect of mirror feedback on
postural control during quiet standing in elderly adults.
Design: Before and after intervention trials.
Setting: Pneumology center in France.
Participants: Eleven elderly adults (mean age, 70.7
4.6y;
mean body weight, 64.5
15.0kg; mean height, 161.4
12.0cm).
Interventions: Participants were asked to stand upright, as
immobile as possible, in 2 eyes-open and mirror-feedback
conditions. The latter experimental condition consisted of supplying
the subjects with their frontal reflection by positioning a
mirror in front of them.
Main Outcome Measures: Foot center of pressure (COP)
displacements in the mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior
(AP) directions were recorded using a force platform.
Results: The mirror-feedback condition had different effects
on postural sway, depending on the direction: range, variability,
and maximal instantaneous speed of the COP displacements
decreased in the ML direction, whereas these effects
remained unchanged in the AP direction.
Conclusions: This study provided evidence that mirror feedback
may put elderly adults at lower risk of falling.

Langue : ANGLAIS