Task/Scenario A person begins walking towards a large rock/cliff (for rock climb

Question

Task/Scenario A person begins walking towards a large rock/cliff (for rock climbing) and rock climbs all the way to the top 1. Considering the inter-relationship among task constraints and the sensory and motor systems, how would sensorimotor deficits of older adults affect their ability to walk, maintain balance, and/or use their arm/hand in your situation/task/scenario? 2. What exercises or techniques might you use to improve balance, mobility, and/or upper limb function? Think of at least two. 3. Are cognitive factors important for walking and balance in your situation/task/scenario? Why? Under which 'constraint' should this information be added? 4. How are spinal, brainstem, and cortical regions involved in your movement situation/task/scenario? Where should this information be added to the 'constraints' framework? 5. What are the task-constraints related to your movement situation/task/scenario? Remember that task constraints consist of three separate sub-constraints What environmental factors will influence movement in your situation/task/scenario? 6. 7. How are the sensory systems involved in the movement? What information do they provide? Be specific about the sensory system. Under which 'constraint' should this information be added?

Explanation / Answer

The first four subparts of the question are answered in detail here-

A) The scenerio is basically of an older adult who rock climbs all the way to top.
1) Neuronal control of movement : The muscles connect to our neuornal system at the neuromuscular junction from where impulses are transferred from neuron to muscle. The muscle then undergoes calcium influx- and the sarocmere shortens to cause muscle contraction. When during childhood, various activities and sports cause the development of certain neuromuscular junctions which enhance flexibility lifelong. However, due to very low frequency of exercise, the aged person might become unable to perform muscular tasks of same range of movement during old age.

2) ?Maintain balance : Our body maintains it's balance by a complex mechanism. Simply put, our brain integrates signals from three main group of neurons and maintains balance. These are 1) Signals from eyes. 2) Signals from Vestibular appratus in ear. 3) Signals from joints of lower limb and spinal joints. (SOMATOSENSORY SIGNALS). When, due to any reason the demand for balancing exceeds the capability of brain- we tumble and fall. As we age, the capacity of brain to integrate and act regresses. This regression comes from two sources - 1) The quality of information that our sense organs provide deteriorates with age. 2) Our brain fails to perform such large calculations subconsciously- effectively. Therefore body of aged people gets displaced beyond balance and they tumble.

3) Upper limb usage comes only as a subsidary reflex action in the aftermath of a lost body balance and isn't of much significance. However, clenching a support in reflex and helping yourself maintain body balance in minor mis-balances may be considered as the assisted functions of upper limb.
With age, reflex actions fade and delay and therefore even the subsidary balance mechanisms fail to act effectively.

B) The good news is- with increased exercise and proper physiotherapy it is easily possible to reduce the chances of such falls and also slow this deterioration of our body. Exercises which chalange our balance must be practiced to increase balance control over time.
Examples - 1) Unilateral exercises - Practicing split stance in place of wide stance. Or, even by practicing standing on one leg for as less as five minutes a day for 2-3 months can drastically increase our balance.
2) Some fun exercises like walking with a book on your head also drastically helo in inoroving balance.
3) No special sets of exercise must be practiced- in our daily routine we can do tasks so as to help us increase our balance.
4) ?Regular walking must be done ro increase motility. Increased range of body movements may be practiced under supervision realise already developed neuromuscular junctions.

C) Definately, congenital defects can hamper balance of body mildly to severely depending on the factor and defect. As mentioned above, balance is a function of visual, vestibular and proprioceptive senses of our body - if the person suffers a defect in even one of the senses- the ability to balance is almost completely hampered. Even simple tasts like climbing up or down on stairs becomes impossible for people with such anamolies. This information may be added in the second constraint of point A of this answer.

D)
1) The spinal cord of our body basically deals with the reflex functions that we perform- so in case of any fumble or mis-balance, the cordinated subsidiary movements which come into play like use of upper limb as mentioned earlier are assisted by actions of spinal cord.
2) ?The brain stem usually cordinates the involuntary muscles of our body and therefore is responsible for increased blood supply and respiratory need for the structures (eyes, ears, joints) responsible for helping in balance while performing balance- challenging tasks like rock climbing.
3) ?The cerebral cortex integrates previous experiences with the present to help perform the movement of voluntary muscles effectively. All your past experiences are woven together to give intelligent inputs to cordinating structures to ensure the best result. This is a plus point for aged climbers since there experiences are more. Due to this reason only, climbers which have a fit body but more experience climb better. This is a gift of god that differentiates us from lower organisms.

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