Article

Practice-induced effects of specific balance training on brain
structure and activity in elderly people are largely unknown.
AIM: In the present
study, we investigated morphological and functional brain changes following
slacking training (balancing over nylon ribbons) in a group of elderly people.
METHODS: Twenty-eight healthy volunteers were recruited and randomly assigned to
the intervention (mean age:
62.3+/-5.4years) or control group (mean age:
61.8+/-5.3years). The intervention group completed six-weeks of slackline
training. Brain morphological changes were investigated using voxel-based
morphometry and functional connectivity changes were computed via independent
component analysis and seed-based analyses. All analyses were applied to the
whole sample and to a subgroup of participants who improved in slackline
performance. RESULTS: The repeated measures analysis of variance showed a
significant interaction effect between groups and sessions. Specifically, the
Tukey post-hoc analysis revealed a significantly improved slackline standing
performance after training for the left leg stance time (pre: 4.5+/-3.6s vs.
26.0+/-30.0s, p<0.038) as well as for tandem stance time (pre: 1.4+/-0.6s vs.
post: 4.5+/-4.0s, p=0.003) in the intervention group.
No significant changes in
balance performance were observed in the control group. The MRI analysis did not
reveal morphological or functional connectivity differences before or after the
training between the intervention and control groups
(whole sample). However,
subsequent analysis in subjects with improved slackline performance showed a
decrease of connectivity between the striatum and other brain areas during the
training period. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results suggest that improved
balance performance with slackline training goes along with an increased
efficiency of the striatal network.
CI - Copyright (c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS