Thursday, March 28

The home test that can predict the risk of mortality: balance on one leg for 10 seconds


Updated

A study published online by the ‘British Journal of Sports Medicine’ -carried out by researchers from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Finland and Brazil- has just revealed that those who do not achieve it could have double the risk of dying in the period of a decade.

Until now we already knew that standing on one leg, in addition to a litmus test for our Balance and a demonstration of strength of our ‘core’it’s a great way to improve our proprioception or, put another way, to ‘help’ our brain to ‘recognize’ in which parts of our body a movement is taking place so that we can execute it as efficiently as possibleavoiding injuries, both in our daily life and in sports practice.

Also that, although they seem ‘simplicity’ (or not), the challenge brings them and demands a concentrationboth mental and physical, much greater than it might seem.

Well then, now it seems that, on top of all that, the ability to stand on one leg for 10 secondsIf we have already reached an age, let’s call it mature or advanced, it can be very revealing. As much as a study published online by the ‘British Journal of Sports Medicine’ -carried out by researchers from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Finland and Brazil- has just concluded that those who don’t get it they could have twice the risk of dying early.

Furthermore, the authors of this 12-year investigation have even suggested that a balance test is included in the routine medical check-ups performed on this segment of the populationsomething that, until now, has not been done and that could give many clues about the incidence, for example, of possible falls and other types of incidents.

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Unlike endurance, strength or flexibility, The experts who have prepared this study have been able to show that the equilibrium it tends to hold up relatively well until we hit our 60s, at which point it gets worse relatively quickly.

To reach these conclusions, we chose 1,702 participantsaged between 51 and 75 years (average 61) to carry out a first check, between February 2009 and December 2020. Around two thirds (68%) were men.

All of them, in addition to weighing them, were measured skin folds and also waist circumference. Their clinical history was also assessed to include only those who presented a stable state of health.

As part of the check, participants were asked to stand on one leg for 10 seconds without any additional support.

To further refine the test results, they were also asked to place the front of their free foot on the back of the opposite lower leg, while keeping their arms at their sides and staring straight ahead. And, to achieve this, they were given three attempts with any foot.

Altogether, around 1 in 5 failed the test and it was observed that the inability to achieve it increased as the age was more advanced; more or less, doubling at subsequent five-year intervals from age 51 to age 55 onwards.

By age, the percentages of those who didn’t make it were: almost 5% between 51 and 55 years; 8% between 56-60 years; slightly less than 18% between 61 and 65 years; and just under 37% between 66 and 70 years.

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More than half (about 54%) of people ages 71 to 75 were unable to complete the challenge. In other words, subjects belonging to this age group were 11 times more likely to fail the test than those 20 years younger (something, admittedly, quite predictable).

But there is still more. During an average follow-up period of seven years, the researchers found that 123 of the study participants, 7%, had died from different causes: cancer (32%); cardiovascular disease (30%); respiratory disease (9%); and complications of COVID-19 (7%).

What is certain is that there were no clear temporal trends in deaths or differences in causes between those who could complete the test and those who could not. But, and here comes the most transcendental information provided by this investigation, the proportion of deaths among those who failed the balance test was significantly higher: 17.5% vs. 4.5%, reflecting a difference of 13%. Which, by the way, is unsettling and all the more reason to pay attention to the recommendations of the World Health Organization and start improving our balance right away with specific exercises.

According to the criteria of

The Trust Project

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