# Age-related changes in multi-behavioral reactive balance control

> **NIH NIH R15** · WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $455,956

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Our long-term goal is to advance knowledge on age-related changes in the multi-behavioral sensorimotor
control of balance leading to falls in older adults to guide the development of more effective treatments and
rehabilitation for improving balance. Despite conventional diagnostic and rehabilitative efforts, our rapidly aging
population remains at a high risk of debilitating falls. These falls can occur in a variety of different movement
behaviors important for daily life, including standing, arising from a chair, and walking. When a loss of balance
occurs during any of these movement behaviors, muscles must be reactively recruited to return the body
upright in order to prevent a fall. How muscles should be recruited depends on the size of the balance loss
(e.g., small versus large) and what a person is doing when the balance loss occurs (e.g., standing versus
walking). How the modulation of reactive muscle recruitment is affected by aging and associated with risk of
falling is unknown. As a first step towards our long-term goal, the objective of the proposed project is therefore
to identify changes in reactive muscle recruitment across several movement behaviors in which falls often
occur in older adults – standing, sit-to-stand, and walking. To investigate changes in reactive muscle
recruitment, we will experimentally impose balance loss through discrete translations of the support surface
(i.e. perturbation) during each of these movement behaviors while measuring muscle activity using
electromyography from a group of young adults, older adults, and older adults with a history of falling. In
Specific Aim 1, we will investigate how scaling of reactive muscle recruitment is altered due to aging and a
history of falls. Scaling refers to the ability to modulate reactive muscle recruitment within a single movement
behavior to the size of the perturbation (e.g., larger perturbations require higher levels reactive muscle
recruitment to prevent a fall). Scaling will independently be investigated in standing, sit-to-stand, and walking
by exposing subjects to various levels of perturbation difficulty. In Specific Aim 2, we will investigate how the
tuning of reactive muscle recruitment is altered due to aging and a history of falls. Tuning refers to the ability to
modulate reactive muscle recruitment across different movement behaviors (e.g., how ankle muscles should
be recruited depends on if the loss of balance occurs in standing versus walking). Tuning will be investigated
by examining the differences in reactive muscle recruitment across each of the three movement behaviors.
The outcomes of this project will enhance our fundamental understanding regarding changes in multi-
behavioral reactive muscle recruitment due to aging that are associated with fall history – changes which could
serve as targets for rehabilitation interventions to improve balance. In addition, the proposed project will also
provide undergraduate students at WVU tr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201894
- **Project number:** 1R15AG068935-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Allen
- **Activity code:** R15 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $455,956
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201894

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201894, Age-related changes in multi-behavioral reactive balance control (1R15AG068935-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201894. Licensed CC0.

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