Ohio State research seeks to improve safety, reduce injury in elderly drivers

 January 16, 2017--As baby boomers age, their risk of life-threatening injuries from car crashes also increases. Although car seat belts are safe and save the lives of many drivers of different shapes and sizes, they don’t always provide optimal safety for everyone.

In an effort to improve safety and reduce injury in drivers over 65, researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and industry partners are measuring impact and injuries sustained from side car crashes involving elderly drivers who wear seat belts.

John Bolte, associate professor of health and rehabilitation sciences at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and director of Ohio State’s Injury Biomechanics Research Center​, is analyzing differences in injuries sustained from side impact car crashes to help improve safety system designs for the 36 million elderly drivers on America’s roads today.

“When seat belts were first designed about four decades ago, safety dummies tested in car crash simulations resembled the average-size male driver of 40 years old and weighing approximately 170 lbs.,” said Bolte, also principal investigator of the study.

Now, thanks to thanks to advanced technology, instrumentation and imagining, we know a lot more about the human body and its bones and how they respond to crashes than we did 20 years ago, yet researchers say the biggest obstacle that remains is human variation.

“Age isn’t the best predictor of how someone responds to injury. We need to move the field away from age and into something more scientifically based, such as looking at properties of the thorax or upper body to better predict how much impact is associated with certain injuries,” Bolte said.

Researchers are conducting newly designed simulations using smaller crash test dummies that are a better representation of the fragile baby boomer population. While measuring impact, they’ll also document position and properties of the upper body to better predict appropriate protection for elderly drivers.

Industry experts say that improperly fitted seat belts save lives, but also can cause injury. To a young driver, some injuries sustained during car crashes won’t always be critical. However, for an elderly driver, fractured ribs or a broken pelvis can quickly become life threatening.

“We’re hopeful our data will assist with safety design modifications to better protect the older, more vulnerable drivers,” Bolte said.

Researchers say, one day, individuals will have a personalized car key fob that activates a customized safety system within their vehicles and adjusts the seat belt based on their individual physiology

Centenarians Can Still Improve Fitness Levels, Study Finds

Fit after 100: Training Helps French Bicyclist Beat His Own World Record at 103

Newswise — January 14, 2017—Adults over 100 years old can still increase their athletic performance and physical fitness with regular training, researchers have found. 

The case study of Robert Marchand, the now 105-year-old who recently broke the 100+ cycling record—again—is published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

French researchers followed the cycling training routine of Marchand, a retired gardener and wine dealer who was born in 1911. Marchand cycled regularly between the ages of 15 and 25 but stopped cycling during his working years before starting again at age 70.

For the two years before he attempted a world record for cycling in the 100 and over age group, Marchard cycled more than 3,000 miles each year (5,000 km).

The research team administered exercise tests before and after this two-year training period to measure his cardiovascular fitness, including exertion rate, breathing rate and maximum oxygen consumption. Body weight and muscle mass was also assessed.

Marchand set a world record for cycling 14 miles (24.25 km) in one hour at the age of 101 and broke his own record at age 103, completing 16 miles (26.92 km) in the same time frame.

In the two-year span between these records, his revolution-per-minute (rpm) rate increased from 69 to 90. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) also increased over the two-year period.

“Indeed, his VO2max was in the same range as those of a sedentary 50-year-old man or those of an active 65-year-old man and an endurance trained 80-year-old man,” the researchers wrote.

“This study shows for the first time that it is still possible to improve performance after one’s 100th birthday by using polarizing training monitored with [rate of perceived exertion] and by focusing on a high pedaling cadence.”

Read the full article, “Case Studies in Physiology: Maximal Oxygen Consumption and Performance in a Centenarian Cyclist,” published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. Established in 1887, the American Physiological Society (APS) was the first U.S. society in the biomedical sciences field. The Society represents more than 11,000 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals with a worldwide readership.

Older Men Cling To 1950’S, ’60’S Blueprint Of Masculinity

Newswise, October 26, 2016 — As men age, they continue to follow dominant ideas of masculinity learned as youth, leaving them unequipped for the assaults of old age, according to a new study.

The mismatch between aging and the often ageless expectations of popular masculinity leaves senior men without a blueprint to behave or handle emotions, according to a new literature review from Case Western Reserve University.

Men who embodied prevailing cultural and societal hallmarks of manliness as younger men—projecting an aura of toughness and independence, avoiding crying and vulnerability, while courageously taking risks—are confronted by the development of health problems, loss of spouses and loved ones, retirement and needing to be a caregiver for ailing family members in later life.

“Who you are in the past is embedded in you,” said Kaitlyn Barnes Langendoerfer, a doctoral student in sociology at Case Western Reserve and co-author of the review, which mined narrative data from nearly 100 previously published studies.

 “Men have trouble dealing with older age because they’ve followed a masculinity script that left little room for them to negotiate unavoidable problems.”

“In our study, we hear men struggling with grief—which is a vulnerable state—and caregiving, which is associated with femininity,” she said.

“If they must cry, men feel it’s to be done in the home, away from others, even when spouse has died. They have to renegotiate their masculinity in order to deal with what life is bringing their way.”

This masculinity “script” still embraced by older men was outlined as the four-part Blueprint of Manhood, first published by sociologist Robert Brannon when the men in the studies were entering adulthood in the 1970’s. The blueprint included:

No Sissy Stuff - men are to avoid being feminine, show no weaknesses and hide intimate aspects of their lives.

The Big Wheel - men must gain and retain respect and power and are expected to seek success in all they do.

The Sturdy Oak – men are to be ‘‘the strong, silent type” by projecting an air of confidence and remaining calm no matter what.

Give ‘em Hell – men are to be tough, adventurous, never give up and live life on the edge.

“We’re all aging; it’s a fact of life. But as men age, they’re unable to be who they were, and that creates a dissonance that is hard to reconcile,” said Langendoerfer, who studies aging in men.

“We need to better understand how older men adapt to their stressors—high suicide rates, emotions they stifle, avoiding the doctor—to hopefully help them build better lives in older age,” she said.

The review, published in the journal Men and Masculinities, was co-written by Edward Thompson Jr., an emeritus professor of sociology and anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross and now an affiliate of the Department of Sociology at Case Western Reserve.

Most of the data came from studies with white, middle-class men from the United States, Canada and Europe who had stable careers. “More research inclusive of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds is needed to obtain a more complete picture of how older men adapt,” Langendoerfer said.