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Complex Systems Approach to the Study of Posture and Locomotion in Older People

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Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults

Abstract

Traditionally, the aging process has been viewed as something negative, a phenomenon that eventually results in frailty. However, the development and adaptive processes involved with the aging process are now understood as part of a nonlinear, systemic reorganization of the body. This view sees the aging body—a biological system—as having subsystems that interact at different levels and with different time scales. In the present chapter, we discussed some concepts associated with the aging process. We began by using a dynamic systems perspective to discuss changes in movement patterns of older individuals. According to this perspective, effects of the aging process are not due to isolated changes in different structures, but to collective changes in interacting subsystems. We then presented the role of functional variability, in particular addressing postural control by illustrating that increases in body sway can be the result of an active exploration of the limits of stability. In the last two sections, we discussed in more detail how the application of the dynamic systems approach can help to explain older adults’ postural control strategies, as well as the flexibility of their gait patterns. We employed general concepts of a dynamic systems perspective to discuss the aging process, using the notions of variability, adaptive potential, and complex multi-scale levels or dimensions and multi-time sources of constraints. Specifically, we included the functional role of aging on posture and locomotion control.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Michaels and Beek [14] identified three perspectives related to the study of information and action that currently prevail in studies of movement science and ecological psychology. The first perspective is direct perception, originally centered in Gibson’s [15] assumptions. The second is related to the kinetic theory (thermodynamics) developed by Kugler, Kelso, and Turvey [16, 17]. The third is the dynamic systems approach, which employs tools and the analytical application of nonlinear dynamics to the study of movement coordination. Haken’s [18] synergetics is a conceptual view in dynamic systems that deals with spontaneous pattern formation (i.e., self-organization) arising from systems far from their equilibrium point.

  2. 2.

    Haptic anchoring tasks require the manipulation of two strings, one in each hand, with an attached load mass for the purpose of reducing postural sway. In such tasks, an individual is required to pull the load just enough to keep the string tight, but without lifting the load from the surface of support. The tension of strings and loads’ resistance during these exploratory actions (haptic anchoring) results in reduction of postural sway [41, 42].

  3. 3.

    Unpublished study with data extracted from a research report: Mauerberg-deCastro E, Magre FL. (2015). Ancoragem háptica e controle postural em idosos [Haptic anchoring and postural control in older adults]. Research report. São Paulo State University, Brazil.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Debra Frances Campbell for her kind and patient revision of the English language of this manuscript. We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their insightful review and comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Education and Sport of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (USP), Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Renato Moraes

  2. Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Department of Physical Education, Campus Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Eliane Mauerberg-deCastro

Authors
  1. Renato Moraes
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  2. Eliane Mauerberg-deCastro
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Correspondence to Renato Moraes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Department of Physical Education, Human Movement Research Laboratory – MOVI-LAB, Campus Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil

    Fabio Augusto Barbieri

  2. Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Department of Physical Education, Posture and Gait Studies Lab (LEPLO), Campus Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Rodrigo Vitório

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Moraes, R., Mauerberg-deCastro, E. (2017). Complex Systems Approach to the Study of Posture and Locomotion in Older People. In: Barbieri, F., Vitório, R. (eds) Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48980-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48980-3_1

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