Comparison of Kinematic Parameters Between Young and Elderly Subjects in Some Tinetti Tasks

The Tinetti Mobility test (or POMA test) is the most used scale to assess fall risk in an ambulatory setting or hospice. The scale consists of scored tasks about balance and gait and the sum of the scores defines the level of risk (a total of 28 for the lower risk level). In this preliminary study, we involved 28 young subjects and 24 elderly people divided according to the Tinetti score into High Risk (≤ 18) and Low Risk (> 18) groups. A wireless 3D magneto inertial sensor placed on the chest of the subjects was used to acquire kinematic characteristics of movement and compare them between young and elderly groups during the execution of three tasks belonging to the Tinetti scale: arising from a chair, standing balance with open and closed eyes in Romberg position. The parameters evaluated for the first task were the duration of the movement and the maximum angular amplitude along the three directions, while for the other two tasks were the Spectral Power, the Variance, the Fractal Dimension, the Approximated Entropy, the Correlation Dimension, and the largest Lyapunov Exponent. Some significant differences were found between the Young group and both High Risk and Low-Risk groups in all three tasks. However, the low number of participants and the high inter-subjects variability did not allow for highlighting any significant difference between High Risk and Low-Risk groups. Finally, the standing balance tasks seem to be the most sensitive exercise to highlight differences between the groups.