Brain Overdrive Erodes Balance in Aging and Parkinson’s, Raising Fall Risk

Aging and Parkinson’s disease force the brain to work harder to maintain balance, producing larger brain and muscle responses even to small slips and often causing opposing muscles to stiffen. This neural inefficiency is linked to poorer balance and higher fall risk, with researchers proposing a rug-pull perturbation test as a noninvasive way to gauge brain engagement and identify at-risk individuals for targeted balance training.