Changes in Touch: A Fact Sheet on Aging

Tactile Changes:

Reduced tactile sensation – touch messages don’t get sent to brain; can’t ties shoes if can’t feel shoe laces; can’t respond to heat (hand on hot object—iron or stove) if can’t feel heat; e.g. bruise – don’t know it; children and others can react – “Oh Mother, you are so careless (blaming)”
Textures, temperatures, other discriminations are difficult cause:
- Parkinson’s disease
- Small cardiovascular accidents unnoticed cause sensory difficulties
- Lack of blood flow to hands – due to swelling
- Arthritis
- Decline in use of limbs/muscles resulting from continual sitting or being bedridden

Tactile difficulties may produce these behaviors:

Avoidance – withdrawal from sewing, touching other people, touching unfamiliar objects
Extremes in recognizing pain – cannot detect; overreacts
Oral exploration – place object in mouth to determine what it is
Not responding to pressure
Grasping objects tightly (overreacting)

Actions you may take:

Talk – give an explanation of what you are doing
Assure grip before release
Touch – increase pressure just enough for person to feel your touch but not enough to hurt

Adapted from Sensitizing People to the Processes of Aging: The In-Service Educator’s Guide by Marvin Ernst and Herbert Shore, Dallas Geriatric Research Institute, 1977. Distributed by: Judith L. Warren, Ph.D., Extension Program Leader and Professor and Extension Gerontology Specialist, Family Development and Resource Management, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. 1995.

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Last updated: 16 September, 2009

Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.