Test your balance by standing on your non-dominant leg for at least 30 seconds (without support!). If you can manage that, you're ageing quite well. — TNS
How long a person can stand – on one leg – is a more telltale measure of ageing than changes in strength or gait, according to new Mayo Clinic research.
The study was published on Oct 23 (2024) in the journal Plos One.
Good balance, muscle strength and an efficient gait contribute to people’s independence and well-being as they age.
How these factors change, and at what rate, can help clinicians develop programmes to ensure healthy ageing.
Individually, people can train their balance without special equipment and work on maintaining it over time.
In this study, 40 healthy, independent people over the age of 50 underwent walking, balance, grip strength and knee strength tests.
Half of the participants were under 65 years of age; the other half were 65 years and older.
In the balance tests, participants stood on force plates in different situations as follows:
- On both feet with eyes open
- On both feet with eyes closed
- On the non-dominant leg with eyes open, and
- On the dominant leg with eyes open.
In the one-legged tests, participants could hold the leg they weren’t standing on where they wanted.
The tests were 30 seconds each.
Standing on one leg – specifically the non-dominant leg – showed the highest rate of decline with age.
“Balance is an important measure because in addition to muscle strength, it requires input from vision, the vestibular system and the somatosensory systems,” says study senior author and Mayo Clinic Motion Analysis Laboratory director Dr Kenton Kaufman.
“Changes in balance are noteworthy.
“If you have poor balance, you’re at risk of falling, whether or not you’re moving.
“Falls are a severe health risk with serious consequences.”
Unintentional falls are the leading cause of injuries among adults who are 65 and older.
ALSO READ: Even a single fall could be fatal for the elderly
Most falls among older adults result from a loss of balance.
ALSO READ: Our sense of balance is crucial to prevent falls
In the grip strength test, the researchers used a custom-made device to measure participants’ grip.
For the knee strength test, participants were in a seated position and instructed to extend their knee (i.e. straighten their leg) as forcefully as possible.
Both the grip and knee strength tests were on the dominant side.
Grip and knee strength showed significant declines by decade (of age), but not as much as balance.
Grip strength decreased at a faster rate than knee strength, making it better at predicting ageing than the other strength measures.
For the gait test, the participants walked back and forth on an eight-meter, level walkway at their own pace and speed.
Gait parameters didn’t change with age.
This was not a surprising result as participants were walking at their normal pace, not their maximum pace, Dr Kaufman says.
There were no age-related declines in the strength tests that were specific to sex.
This indicates that both male and female participants’ grip and knee strength declined at a similar rate.
Researchers did not identify sex differences in the gait and balance tests, which suggests that male and female subjects were equally affected by age.
Dr Kaufman says that people can take steps to train their balance.
For example, by standing on one leg, you can train yourself to coordinate your muscle and vestibular responses to maintain correct balance.
If you can stand on one leg for 30 seconds, you are doing well, he says.
ALSO READ: If you can balance on one leg for 10s, you'll live another decade
“If you don’t use it, you lose it. If you use it, you maintain it,” he says.
“It’s easy to do. It doesn’t require any special equipment, and you can do it every day.” – Mayo Clinic News Network/Tribune News Service
