Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Human balance, or lack thereof, can be a reliable indicator that reflects a person’s health and possible underlying conditions. Recent research on more than 1,700 middle-aged and older subjects found that those who could not balance on one leg for 10 seconds had a much higher mortality rate than those who could.
Similar to how a police officer can ask you to get out of the vehicle and perform a balancing task to see if you are intoxicated, doctors could use this simple 10-second balance test as a quick check before doing more . in-depth investigations for a diagnosis.
“The 10-second balance test provides fast and objective feedback to the patient and health professionals about static balance and that the test adds useful information about the risk of mortality in middle-aged and older men and women. said the lead author, Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo of the Clinimex exercise medicine clinic in Rio de Janeiro.
As we age, the body gradually begins to deteriorate. We can’t maintain weight so easily until we are forty, our bones become more brittle due to the absorption of less calcium from food, muscles lose too much and weaken and our senses, such as sight and hearing, they begin to deteriorate. But research suggests that the balance tends to be reasonably well preserved until the sixth decade of life.
From the age of 60, our balance also begins to deteriorate rapidly. However, if you are in your forties and have difficulty balancing on one leg, this can be a cause for concern.
Many doctors have observed the relationship between poor balance and signs of ill health, but the balance is not routinely checked because there is no standardized test for it. To investigate whether a balance test could be a reliable indicator of the risk of death or illness, Araujo and colleagues at Clinimex and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom evaluated 1,702 participants aged 51 to 75 years, with an average age of 61 years, between February 2009 and December 2020. Each participant provided details of their medical history, along with measurements of their weight and waist size.
During their initial review, participants had to stand on one leg for 10 seconds. They were asked to do this task while placing the front of the free foot and the back of the opposite lower leg keeping the arms at the sides and the gaze fixed forward, as shown in the image below. Each participant was allowed three attempts at each foot.
Body position on the 10-second leg position test. Credit: British Journal of Sports Medicine.
One in five participants failed the test, most of whom were over 60 years old. This rate of this disability was doubled every 5 years interval approximately from the age of 50 years. Almost 5% of people aged 51 to 55 could not balance with one foot, while this figure rose to 37% among those aged 66 to 70. And more than half of those between the ages of 71 and 75 were unable to complete the test.
The balance deteriorates rapidly from a certain age threshold. Credit: British Journal of Sports Medicine.
During a follow-up that took 7 years, on average, after the initial evaluation, the researchers found that 123 participants had died due to cancer (32%), cardiovascular disease (30%), respiratory disease (9%). ) and COVID. -19 (7%).
But as they delved deeper into the results, the researchers noticed a disturbing trend. About 17.5% of those who failed the balance test died compared to 4.5% who passed the test.
Those who failed the 10-second leg balance test tended to be more likely to be obese, have heart disease, higher blood pressure, and an unhealthy blood fat profile compared to those who passed the test. Type 2 diabetes was three times more common in the unbalanced group.
After considering possible confounding factors, such as age, sex, and underlying conditions, the researchers concluded that the inability to balance on one leg for a short period of time was associated with a surprising 85% risk of death from any cause within the next decade.
Some doctors have used the leg posture test to assess balance for the past five decades, the researchers note, but it has never been commonly used to assess health. But now that we have data linking balance to mortality, this test could become more routine, along with other quick and easy tests, such as the pass test.
“Current findings suggest that a 10-second leg posture is a potential practical tool that could be used in routine clinical practice to identify middle-aged and older people at high risk of death. We encourage researchers with access to these data to publish their findings to confirm these results, “said co-author Dr. Setor Kunutsor, senior professor of evidence synthesis at Bristol Medical School: Translational Health Sciences (THS).
The findings appeared in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.