The immediate effect of physical activity on standing balance in healthy and balance-impaired older people

Objective: To determine if standing balance was affected by moderate levels of physical activity in healthy young, healthy older and balance-impaired older adults. Methods: Thirty-one healthy young, 33 healthy older and 22 balance-impaired older adults took part. Centre of pressure (COP) motion was measured before and immediately after participants undertook 14 minutes of self-paced, moderate intensity physical activity. Results: All groups responded in a similar manner. Following the physical activity circuit, mediolateral COP displacement and standard deviation of mediolateral COP position increased by 5% and 17%, respectively. Anteroposterior COP displacement and COP standard deviation, and total COP displacement, did not change. All changes were small compared with the magnitude of the group differences. Conclusions: A small increase in fall risk may exist immediately following physical activity and older people may need to exercise caution following moderate intensity bouts of physical activity to prevent falling.