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Motor Functions and Mobility
Book chapter

Motor Functions and Mobility

Warren G Darling, Kelly J Cole and James A Ashton‐Miller
The Wiley Handbook on the Aging Mind and Brain, pp.362-388
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
04/18/2018
DOI: 10.1002/9781118772034.ch18

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Abstract

Lower limb motor function involves gross movements for locomotion but also includes finer control of the joints for obstacle avoidance and responses to perturbations of body posture that may produce falls. Subcortical structures processing motor and related sensory information show loss of gray matter volume with age which contribute to impaired control of upper limb movement. Aging‐related reductions in levels of various neurotransmitters and their receptors that affect transmission of information among sensorimotor and other functional areas of the brain have been identified. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have provided a wealth of data concerning age‐related differences in activation of various brain areas during performance of motor tasks, some testing for relationships with motor performance. A review of neuroimaging modalities confirms the neurophysiological and neuroanatomical literature stressing the importance of frontal cortex, basal ganglia, parietal and cerebellar function, and the corpus callosum, in controlling of balance, gait and mobility.
age‐related differences brain structure functional magnetic resonance imaging injurious falls lower limb motor function mobility neurochemistry perturbations standing balance upper limb motor function

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