Abstract

The aim of the study was to check whether there are any differences in the level of body balance between younger and elderly men. Body balance was measurements by computer posturographic system in two variants, i.e. a) with open eyes, b) with closed eyes. The measurement of the body balance was used also for analysis importance of the sight organ for maintaining a stable standing position in young physically active men and in elderly men. It was examined: 22 students of physical education (mean=22.2 years) – group A and 23 elderly men (mean=70.5 years) – group B. Balance was measured with use of a computer posturographic system PE 90 (a platform with four tensometric force transducers). The following parameters were analysed: a) mean radius (MR), b) sway area (SA), c) total length (TL), d) length of left-right sways (LDL-R), e) mean speed left-right sway (MSL-R), f) number of sways in left-right movements (NDL-R), g) length of back-front sways (LDB-F), h) mean speed of back to front movements (MSB-F), i) number of sways in back to front movements (NDB-F). In both studied groups a significant increase in the value of individual posturographic parameters was noted when the subjects were to maintain a stable standing position with eyes closed in compare to the result of the tests with their eyes open. It demonstrates a lower stability of the posture with closed eyes. In the majority of cases, the increase in the posturographic parameters (except MR) in the test with closed eyes is much higher in elderly men (B) than in younger ones (A). The results of the study indicate that the increased difficulty of the conditions of the task (closed eyes) leads to significantly greater disturbances in static body balance in elderly men. Verf.-Referat