Page 103 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Differences in movement control of the cervical spine between healthy
adults and older adults

Izabela Lužnik, Maja Pajek, Živa Majcen Rošker
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Introduction: The cervical spine has important neurophysiological connections to the
vestibular and visual systems, providing proprioceptive input for the control of head
and eye movements as well as postural stability. Disturbances in neck muscle function
may arise due to degeneration and muscle atrophy, which influence the propriocep-
tive capabilities and cervical muscle activation patterns. Consequently, altered propri-
oceptive input from the cervical spine can lead to sensory mismatch and thus affect
kinaesthetic functions. Previous studies suggest that changes in cervicocephalic kinaes-
thetic awareness can also occur with ageing as a result of altered cervical afferent in-
put due to pathological and degenerative changes of the cervical spine. The aim of the
study was to assess the differences in movement control of the cervical spine using the
Butterfly test between healthy adults and older adults.
Methods: The study involved 32 healthy individuals (16 adults, aged 18-65 years and
16 older adults, older than 65 years), who performed the Butterfly test with an iner-
tial measurement unit. During the test, participants were required to accurately track
an unpredictably moving target shown on the computer screen with active head and
neck movements (three repetitions for 3 different movement path difficulties). The dif-
ferences between the two age groups were compared using the independent sam-
ples t-test and in case of violated assumptions of normality of data distribution and/or
equal variances using the Mann-Whitney U test in the following variables: amplitude
accuracy (AA), time on target (ToT), undershoot (U) and overshoot (O).
Results: Statistically significant differences between the groups were observed for the preventiva in rehabilitacija ... | prevention and rehabilitation ...
variables AA, ToT and U in all three levels of difficulty, with the adults showing bet-
ter performance in controlling cervical spine movement, while no statistically signifi-
cant differences were found between the groups for the variable O in all three levels
of difficulty.
Discussion and conclusions: The results of the study indicate that older adults show al-
tered movement control of the cervical spine compared to adults. Considering the
important role of the cervical spine for different sensorimotor functions, alterations
in kinaesthetic awareness could lead to less efficient movement and balance control,
and possibly to increased risk of falls in older adults. Therefore, future research should
study the effects of cervical spine kinaesthetic training on different sensorimotor func-
tions in older adults.
Keywords: cervical spine, kinaesthesia, movement control, older adults

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