If you have difficulty standing on one leg, this may be a sign of something more serious than overdoing the summer drink party at the office. Middle-aged and elderly people who can’t balance on one leg in 10 seconds are almost twice as likely to die within 10 years as those who can, studies show.
How well a person can balance can give an idea of his health. Previous research, for example, has shown that the inability to balance one leg is associated with a higher risk of stroke. It has also been found that people with poor balance perform worse on tests of mental decline, which suggests a link to dementia.
Now an international team of experts from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Finland and Brazil has completed the first-of-its-kind 12-year study examining the link between balance and mortality. Although the study was observational and could not determine the cause, the results were astounding.
The inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds in middle and later life is associated with almost doubling the risk of death for any reason over the next 10 years. The results are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The findings are so clear that researchers led by Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo of the Clinimex Exercise Clinic in Rio de Janeiro suggest that the balance test should be included in routine health examinations for the elderly.
Unlike aerobic shape, muscle strength and flexibility, balance tends to be maintained well until the sixth decade of life, when it begins to decline relatively rapidly. However, balance assessment is not usually included in the health examinations of middle-aged and elderly people, probably because there is no standardized test for it. So far, there is little solid data linking the balance to clinical outcomes other than falls.
A total of 1,702 people between the ages of 51 and 75 and with stable gait were followed between 2008 and 2020 for the study. At the beginning, the participants were asked to stand on one leg for 10 seconds without additional support. To standardize the test, participants were 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 their gaze directed straight ahead. Up to three trials with each leg are allowed.
One in five (21%) fails the test. Over the next decade, 123 died of various causes. After taking into account age, gender and basic conditions, the inability to stand without support on one leg for 10 seconds is associated with an 84% increased risk of death for any reason.
The researchers said the study had limitations, including that all participants were white Brazilians, meaning the findings may not be more widely applicable to other ethnicities and nations.
Nevertheless, the researchers concluded that the 10-second balance test “provides rapid and objective feedback to patients and healthcare professionals on static balance” and “adds useful information on the risk of mortality in middle-aged and middle-aged men and women. -adults”.
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