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KMID : 1137820120330040163
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의공학회지
2012 Volume.33 No. 4 p.163 ~ p.168
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Comparison of Reaction Times of Ankle Joint Muscles in the Elderly Men and Women
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Kim Ji-Won
Jeong Hong-Young
Kim Hyo-Hee
Kwon Yu-Ri
Eom Gwang-Moon
Lee Jeong-Hwan
Kim K.-S.
Jun Jae-Hoon
Park Byung-Kyu
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Abstract
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Elderly women are reported to have greater risk of falls. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the possible gender differences in the reaction performance of ankle joint muscles, which have dominant role in the control of sagittal plane balance. Twenty-six elderly men and women with comparable mean age participated in this study. Reaction times to the audible beeps were measured in the tibialis anterior muscle and gastrocnemius muscle. Reaction time variables included premotor time, electromechanical delay and total reaction time. Gender difference in each reaction time was investigated by independent t-test. In both muscles, premotor time was longer in men but the electromechanical delay was longer in women (p < 0.05). Resulting total reaction time was longer in men in tibialis anterior muscle (p < 0.01) and it tended to be longer in men also in gastrocnemius muscle (p = 0.25). The results demonstrates that the overall reaction performances of elderly women is better than or comparable to those of elderly men in ankle joint muscles. This suggests that the reaction performance of ankle muscles is hardly the cause of the greater risk of falls in elderly women.
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KEYWORD
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Reaction time, Ankle joint, Gender difference, Risk of falls
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