Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8261-9429

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

12-2021

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Health Science

First Advisor

William E Schweinle

Abstract

Older adults are a rapidly growing population which house a subset of older athletes who regularly engage in sport competition. The physical health and risk factors of this competitive older athlete population have been largely overlooked by healthcare providers and researchers and are poorly understood. Older athletes exhibit distinctly different measures of physical performance which require unique thresholds to identify health-related risk factors. While lower extremity power and movement velocity have been identified as valuable measures of physical performance and fall risk in community-dwelling older adults this relationship has not been explored in competitive older athletes. One method for analyzing lower extremity power and movement velocity in older adults involves the use of a Tendo Power Analyzer (Tendo). The Tendo has been recommended for use in field and clinical settings and may be ideal for the measurement of older athletes. The purpose of this dissertation study was to (1) report normative data for lower extremity power and movement velocity in older athletes, (2) identify any relationship between measures of lower extremity power and movement velocity and fall history in older athletes and (3) quantify the relationship between measures of lower extremity power and movement velocity and more common clinical measures of strength, mobility and balance currently utilized to assess fall-risk in this population. Measures from competitive older athletes age 50 and older will be analyzed for this dissertation study. This analysis will include athlete age, gender, competitive sport, self-reported fall history, peak and average power and movement velocity and physical capacity measures of strength, mobility and balance currently utilized to assess physical performance and identify health risks in this population.

Subject Categories

Physical Therapy

Keywords

Aging, Falls, Functional Measures, Physical Performance Measures, Senior Athletes, Strength

Number of Pages

116

Publisher

University of South Dakota

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