Keeping Balance, With a Jiggle




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Keeping Balance, With a Jiggle

By John O’Neil, the New York Times

October 7, 2003

A little jiggle in the shoes may help keep older people upright, a new study involving vibrating insoles suggests.

The study, published on Saturday in The Lancet, took advantage of a paradoxical phenomenon that Dr. James C. Collins of Boston University , the lead researcher, said is widely found throughout nature. While too much noise — random information — can make it hard for signals to be detected, a little noise can sometimes make it easier for weak signals to be picked up.

To test its effect on balance, the researchers tested 15 young men and women and 12 people whose average age was 73, using two insoles, each with three vibrators.

Before the test, the subjects adjusted the vibration levels so they could barely be felt. During the experiment, that level was lowered a little more, to be so subtle that the subjects were not consciously aware of it.

The researchers then measured how much the subjects swayed while standing upright with their eyes closed for 30 seconds. The vibrations were turned on half the time.

The vibrations improved everyone's balance, but the older people improved the most. In fact, Dr. Collins said, "In several of our measures, when you introduced the noise you could effectively take someone in their mid-70's and make them sway similarly to someone in their mid-20's."

Dr. Collins said his team hoped the findings could eventually be used to reduce the risk of falls among older people whose sense of balance had deteriorated.