The role of muscle weakness in balance and postural instability in the elderly with and without falls: A Systematic review

It is essential understanding causes of falls among the older adults in order to design effective interventions; therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the role of muscle weakness in balance and postural instability among older adults with and without a history of falls.

This was a systematic review of articles that were published during the years 1986 to 2021. These articles investigated the role of muscle weakness in balance and postural instability among older adults with and without falls. The search process was performed in intentional databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials, Google Scholar, and Scopus as well as Persian databases of Magiran, Irandoc, IranMedex, MedLib, using equivalent Persian keywords. Besides, a manual search and full review of article references was performed.

According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 23 articles entered the final review phase. Eighteen of the above twenty-three studies reported that lower-limb muscles play an important role in balance and postural stability, and five articles investigated the role of lower-limb muscles in balance and falls among the older adults.

It seems that muscle weakness is a risk factor for falls among the older adults. Both the distal and proximal muscles of the lower limb play an important role in the balance and fall among the older adults. Studies showed that upper-limb muscles play a more important role in balance, postural instability, and falls among the older adults than uper-limb muscles. Therefore, to prevent muscle weakness-related falls among the older adults, training programs should be considered to increase the muscle strength and thus to reduce the risk of falls in this age group and increase the number of active older adults in the society.