“If you can’t stand on your leg for five seconds, you’re at risk of falls,” said Kenton Kaufman, the senior author of the Mayo Clinic study.
By Teddy Amenabar in the Washington Post (thanks to Tim and Tony)
How long you can stand on one leg — specifically, your nondominant leg — is a telltale sign of age-related decline, according to a study led by researchers at Mayo Clinic.
Researchers found that a person’s ability to balance on one leg deteriorated with age faster than measurements of walking gait, grip and knee strength. Participants, ages 52 to 83, were compared with each other in a cross-sectional study.
“If you have poor balance, you’re more likely to fall,” said Kenton Kaufman, the senior author of the study and a musculoskeletal research professor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The ability to balance on one leg is “an important predictor” of someone’s risk of falling, he said.
“If you can’t stand on your leg for five seconds, you’re at risk of falls,” Kaufman said. “If a person can stand on their leg for 30 seconds, they’re doing really well, especially if they’re older.”
More than 1 in 4 people ages 65 and older fall every year, according to the National Institute on Aging. It is a leading cause of injury and injury-related death for older adults.
On average, the study’s participants could stand on their nondominant leg for 17 seconds. Among participants older than 65, the average was 11 seconds.
(Abbey Lossing for The Washington Post)
The facts
- The researchers recruited 40 healthy men and women who live around Rochester. Half of the participants were 50 to 65 years old; the rest were older than 65.
- Participants completed a series of tests measuring their balance, walking gait, grip and knee strength. Researchers controlled the results for body size (weight and height) to determine if there were age-related changes.
- During balance tests, participants stood on a platform that measured how much they shifted their weight. They stood on both feet with eyes open, then eyes closed. Next they stood on their dominant leg, then their non-dominant leg with eyes open for up to 30 seconds.
- Researchers told participants to balance on one leg in whatever way they prefer. Results included how long they could stand on one foot and how much they shifted their weight.
The study published in PLOS One on Wednesday. (continued)