Figure 5. Conceptual model of induced‐step triggering with ageing and fall risk .

An external postural perturbation modifies the CoM–BoS relationship. Instead of using on‐line processing of the perturbation characteristics to estimate the state of evolving instability (based on an internal representation of the body) and trigger an induced step with the correct direction, timing and amplitude to compensate for the perturbation (see Fig. 1), particularly older adults at greater risk of falling might react to event information (red arrow) that would trigger a preset stepping response that is not adaptively tuned to the perturbation characteristics.