Visual control of adaptive locomotion and changes due to natural ageing

Hollands, M; Hollands, K; Rietdyk, S

Abstract

This chapter will review current theories of how adults use vision to guide
adaptations to the basic locomotor rhythm in order to cope with environmental
demands, e.g. to step over an obstacle in our path or to guide the foot to specific
safe areas in the terrain or to cope with the challenges to balance posed by
descending stairs. A finding common to different gait adaptations is that they are
usually, by necessity, programmed in advance to ensure stability and maximise
efficiency. Thus visual cues are predominantly sampled and used in a
feedforward or anticipatory manner to make gait adjustments. Recent evidence
suggests that older adults, particularly those characterised as being at higher risk
of tripping and falling, show changes in visuomotor control during adaptive
locomotion and that the resulting changes to visual behaviour may be causally
related to lower limb movement inaccuracies, compromised balance control and
associated increased falls risk. The putative neural and biomechanical
mechanisms underlying these changes will be discussed alongside the potential
applications of current knowledge to falls prevention and rehabilitation in older
adult populations.

Citation

Hollands, M., Hollands, K., & Rietdyk, S. (2017). Visual control of adaptive locomotion and changes due to natural ageing. In F. Barbieri,, & R. Vitório (Eds.), Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults (55-72). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48980-3_5

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2018
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 55-72
• Book Title: Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults
• ISBN: 9783319489797
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48980-3_5
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48980-3_5
• Related Public URLs: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-48980-3#toc