The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the elderly central nervous system to modulate spinal reflex output to functionally decrease a spinally-induced balance perturbation. In this case, the soleus H-reflex was used as the source of perturbation. Therefore, decreasing (down-training) of the soleus H-reflex was necessary to counteract this perturbation, and to better maintain postural control. In addition to assessing the effect of this perturbation on the H-reflex, static postural stability was measured to evaluate possible functional effects. Ten healthy young subjects (age: 27.0 ± 4.6 years) and ten healthy elderly subjects (age: 71.4 ± 5.1 years) participated in this study. Subjects underwent balance perturbation on two consecutive days. On Day 1 of perturbation, significant down-training of the soleus H-reflex was demonstrated in both young (-20.4%) and elderly subjects (-18.7%). On Day 2 of perturbation, significant down-training of the soleus H-reflex was again demonstrated in both young (-24.6%) and elderly subjects (-21.0%). Analysis of static stability after the two days of balance perturbation revealed a significant 10.1% decrease in the area of sway in elderly subjects. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that healthy elderly subjects were equally capable of down-training the soleus H-reflex in response to a balance perturbation when compared to young subjects. Furthermore, the improvement in static stability through balance training may provide further evidence that balance can be re-trained and rehabilitated in subjects with decreased reflex function.