Relationship between muscular strength and balance in an elderly population

Author

Mikayla N. Basil, James Madison UniversityFollow

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Date of Graduation

5-8-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Department of Kinesiology

Advisor(s)

Christopher J. Womack

Stephanie P. Kurti

Michael J. Saunders

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the association between grip strength, leg strength and balance test performance in elderly individuals.Methods: Fourmales and four females (average age = 72.8 ± 2.1 years, average height = 167.8 ± 9.4 cm, average weight = 74.8 ± 14.4 kg) participated in this study. Participants were administered the Berg Balance Test and assigned a score out of 56. They then performed a maximal grip strength test, and maximal isokinetic leg extension and flexion tests on their dominant leg to obtain peak torque. Correlations were calculated between all testing variables using Pearson correlation coefficients.Results: No significant correlations were found between the Berg Balance test scores and any of the strength measures (R=0.13-0.64). However, there was a trend towards significance between relative leg flexion strength and the Berg Balance test scores (R=0.64, p = 0.09). Significant correlations were found between grip strength and absolute leg flexion (R=0.80) and extension (R=0.92) strength.Conclusion: Grip strength was not found to be an accurate predictor of balance performance in elderly populations. This conclusion, however, is limited by the small number of subjects in this study and the lack of individuals at high risk of falling. However, grip strength may be an accurate predictor of leg flexion and extension strength in elderly populations.