Conclusions

Dynamic posturography using a translational platform and new parameters for quantifying postural reactions to linear displacements were suitable for differentiating between aging and pathological effects in upright postural control. These tools should be used on a wider scale in the near future for both routine tests and rehabilitation purposes, including the prevention of falls in elderly people.

Objective

To demonstrate that dynamic posturography using a translational platform and new parameters for quantifying postural reactions to linear displacements constitute a more suitable way of discriminating age and/or pathology-induced postural effects.

Material and methods

Three groups of young healthy, elderly healthy and elderly unstable patients were tested on a translational platform using ramp (0.03, 0.07 and 0.1 m/s) and sinusoidal (0.25 and 0.5 Hz) stimulations. Their dynamic performances were compared to their postural evaluation on a static platform using classical stabilometric parameters (surface, length, etc.) and stabilogram–diffusion analysis (critical point coordinates and short-term diffusion coefficient).

Results

The translational platform, the new parameters elaborated for quantifying postural reactions (energy and time for postural stabilization, phase and gain of the postural response) and the visual condition under which the subjects were tested (eyes open versus eyes closed) discriminated all groups better than the classical methods.