Adulthood

1
Adulthood

• Motor Performance and Movement

2
Older Adults 1999 Study

• Average life expectancy
• 1900 47
• 1950 68
• Today 76.6 (79.8 W and 73.4 M)
• Mid Century 80s
• Growing in size
• 1960 65 17 million
• Today 65 34 million
• 2030 65 70 million
• Representing 1/5 to ¼ of the population
• Jeanne Calment
• Oldest documented person 122 years/164 days

3
Motor Performance

• Variables Affecting Performance and Movement

4
Motor Performance

• Range of movement tasks
• Interaction dependency
• manipulated
• resistant to change
• High variability

5
Variability in Motor Performance

• Physiological degeneration
• Psychological factors
• Environmental conditions
• Task requirements
• Combination of any/all

6
Physiological Degeneration

• Aging - Why do we age?
• Theories
• Exercise, nutrition and physical activity
• New Research (Hirsch Hirsch, 1998)

7
Physiological Degeneration

• Three theories on why we age
• Integrity of cells
• Immune system
• Homeostasis

8
Physiological Changes

• Regardless of why we age, there are several
  physiological changes in adulthood that affect
  motor performance

9
Skeletal System

• Grandma Im Shrinking! Grandson Bummer!
• Poor posture -
• Suggestion
• Osteoporosis -
• Suggestion

10
Muscles and Joints

• General pattern of muscle strength
• peak 25-30
• plateau until 50
• gradual decline 70
• sharp decline thereafter
• Why?
• Suggestions
• Research suggests

11
Central Nervous System

• 100 Billion neurons in the brain -
• Age and conduction of neural impulses
• Retardation or inhibition of cell activity -
• Neurofibrillary tangles
• Senile plaques
• Lipofuscin
• Neurotransmitters
• Hypoxia

12
Cardiovascular System

• Hypoxia
• Arteriosclerosis
• Atherosclerosis
• Respiration - typical pattern
• increase through adolescence
• plateau at during 30s
• decline thereafter
• Suggestions

13
Sensory Systems

• Vision
• Hearing
• Kinesthesis

14
Movement in Adulthood

• Behavioral Changes
• Reaction time
• Balance and Postural Control
• Falls
• Gait
• Other Considerations
• Activities of Daily Living
• Elite Performance
• Teaching Older Adults Movement Skills

15
Reaction Time (RT)

• RT -
• Reception time - Motor Integration time - Motor
  Outflow time - Actual Movement
• RT - peak early to mid 20s - slow drop through
  middle years - sharp decline thereafter

16
Reaction Time (RT)

• Reason for decline-
• Quality of perception
• CNS issues
• Motivation
• Performance Factors -
• Familiarity
• Practice
• Single task
• Environment
• Level of Physical Activity

17
Balance and Postural Control

• Coming full circle with balance control

Infant - Conscious Effort Older Adult -
Conscious Effort
Child - Central CNS
Adult - Automatic
Adolescent - Automatic
18
Balance and Postural Control

• Factors -
• Vision
• Vestibular
• Somatosense
• RT of muscle activation / timing
• Ex. Loss of balance backward

19
Balance and Postural Control

• Four main etiologies of balance and postural
  control deficiencies
• Central Sensory Impairments
• Central Motor Impairments
• Peripheral Sensory Impairments
• Peripheral Motor Impairments

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Balance and Postural Control

• What can be done?
• Depends on.
• Suggestions
• Determine etiology and intervene
• If somatosensory?
• If visual?
• If peripheral motor?
• Etiology (CM,CS,PM,PS) Practice

21
Falls

• Myths
• Falls are a normal part of aging
• Falls are not serious
• Nothing can be done to impact falls

• Truths
• Sign of underlying disease or accelerated disuse
• Leading cause of injury
• Interventions can impact fall incidence

22
Falls

• Major concern for older adults
• Hip fractures - most serious (300,000yr)
• Factors -
• Tripping over hazardous objects
• Vestibular, visual, and somatosensory issues
• Slower RT to catch balance
• Uneven surfaces
• Poor Gait

23
Postures

• Demons
• Posture Training
• Good Posture Defined
• Reciprocal Innervation

24
Gaits

• Characteristics of Older Adult
• Decreased walking speed
• Decreased stride length
• Increased double support period
• Reduction in toe-floor clearance

25
Other Considerations

• Activities of Daily Living
• Elite Performance
• Teaching Older Adults Movement Skills

26
Activities of Daily Living

• Examples
• getting out of bed
• getting dressed
• bathing, preparing meals
• standing from sitting or lying position
• Floor to standing position
• Modifications of environment/task can ameliorate
  some differences

27
Elite Performance

• Non-age related factors
• Quality of training
• Frequency and quality of competitive experience
• Motivation
• Injury proneness
• Activity specific

28
Teaching Older Adults Movement Skills

• Physical activity trends -
• Most adults do not choose to participate in
  physical activity
• Only about 10 aerobically active
• Why? Why? Why?
• What can we do?

29
Teaching Older Adults Movement Skills

• Information processing theory - Perceptual motor
  process
• Recommendations
• Enhance readiness of learner
• Reducing verbal input (clear/concise)
• Environment -
• Attentional strategies -

30
Teaching Older Adults Movement Skills

• Recommendations
• Perceptual activities
• Self-talk and verbal rehearsal - memory
• Reduce speed and complexity of incoming
  information - reaction time
• Provide specific, corrective, positive feedback
  immediately following movement