The effect of focus of attention instruction and manipulation of somatosensory on postural control in elderly

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of attentional focus and somato-sensory manipulation on older people postural control. For this purpose 34 older man (mean of age = 70. 7) were selected and divided in external and internal group randomly. The task consists of performing balance task on Biodex system in three condition of normal، on foam and on inflatable cushions. Subjects in external group instructed to focus on a picture located 6 meters from them. Subjects in internal group instructed to focus on their ankle muscles. For measuring subjects` balance we used the Biodex Postural Stability System. Overall، medio-lateral and anterior-posterior indexes were recorded for each subject. Results showed that the internal attention focus had no significant effect on all postural indexes in three conditions (p>. 05). External focus of attention had significant effect in conditions of standing on foam and standing on inflatable cushions (p<. 01). Also external focus of attention was more effective in challenging condition (p<. 01). In total، this study showed that external focus of attention can reduce postural sway and improve balance. These results are in line with Constrained Action Hypothesis. This hypothesis suggested that external focus of attention causes more automatic movements and fast unconscious and reflective processes were allowed to control movement and improve performance and learning.