Morris A, Masegian C, Zhang A, Carrillo M, Székely B, Murray NG, Jiang F. The effect of age and proprioceptive illusion susceptibility on gait.
Physiol Behav 2024;
287:114717. [PMID:
39424022 PMCID:
PMC11568900 DOI:
10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114717]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2024] [Revised: 10/14/2024] [Accepted: 10/14/2024] [Indexed: 10/21/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Age-related gait decline has been associated with impaired proprioception, one's internal awareness of spatial location and movement. Although impaired proprioception has further been linked to greater susceptibility to proprioceptive illusions, it is unclear the impact such susceptibility has on gait and its interaction with age. The purpose of this study was to address these uncertainties.
METHODS
We measured proprioceptive illusions induced by muscle spindle manipulation and gait in young and older adults. We also compared illusory measures with traditionally used joint position matching to examine if illusory susceptibility can reveal proprioceptive impairments.
RESULTS
We found no effect of age on proprioceptive illusion susceptibility or joint position matching error. Compared to non-perceivers, illusion perceivers across both age groups showed greater joint matching error, suggesting reduced proprioceptive acuity. Consistent with previous studies, older adults had reduced cadence, gait velocity, and step length compared to young adults in both single- and dual-task walking. Interestingly, illusion perceivers, regardless of age, showed reduced cadence and step width compared to non-perceivers.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that gait impairments observed in those who perceive these proprioceptive illusions are age-independent, potentially rooted in deteriorated proprioception.
SIGNIFICANCE
This is the first study to examine these relations.
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