Age-Related Changes in Gait, Balance, and Strength Parameters: A Cross-Sectional Study
28th October 2024
The study results indicated that gait parameters were not significantly affected by age (p?0.12), while knee and grip strength, along with several balance parameters, showed a significant decline with age. All individuals were able to maintain their bipedal balance, but their center of pressure movement increased significantly by age (p?0.028). Z-scores were calculated to compare significant age parameters. Unipedal stance time was found to be the most affected by age compared to other contributing factors (p?0.001). The duration of unipedal balance showed the most significant change per decade (non-dominant: -0.62 SDs; dominant: -0.53 SDs), while strength measures exhibited the lowest amount of change per decade (grip strength: -0.34 SDs; knee strength: -0.26 SDs). Sex differences were observed exclusively in strength parameters, with no discernible impact on the decline in balance parameters.
Most scientific studies are of one of two types: (a) studies that actually discover and exemplify the causal links between two conditions, and (b) studies that identify strong correlations between two conditions and think that this proves a causal connection.
The former is actual science, while the latter passes for science these days. The latter underlie most hand-wringing political fashions, such as racism, sexism, ‘white privilege’, and ‘climate change’, depending for their authority on ‘scientific consensus’ rather than actual I-can-point-to-it proof of causation.