Older and young adults adopt different postural strategies during quiet bipedal stance after ankle plantarflexor fatigue

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

卷:701

Article

Boyas, Sebastien^1,2,3  Medd, Emily R.³  Beaulieu, Sebastien⁴  Boileau, Amelie⁴  Lajoie, Yves³  Bilodeau, Martin^2,3,4 

[1] Le Mans Univ, Lab Movement Interact Performance, Fac Sci & Technol, MIP,Dept Sport Sci,EA 4334, Le Mans, France

[2] Bruyere Res Inst, Aging & Movement Res Lab, 43 Bruyere St, Ottawa, ON K1N 5C8, Canada

[3] Univ Ottawa, Fac Hlth Sci, Sch Human Kinet, 125 Univ Ave, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada

[4] Univ Ottawa, Sch Rehabil Sci, Fac Hlth Sci, 451 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada

关键词: Age;    Postural control;    Posture;    Muscle fatigue;    Kinematics;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neulet.2019.02.044

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Background: The individual effects of fatigue and age on postural control have been extensively studied. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the combined effects of fatigue and age on postural control and posture. Research question: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of age and muscle fatigue on bipedal stance postural control and posture. Methods: Twenty-three participants, fourteen young adults and nine older adults performed 30-s bipedal postural trials before and after fatigue. The fatigue protocol consisted in repeating heel raises until exhaustion. Back, hip, knee and ankle joint angles and centre of pressure (COP) displacements were recorded with a 3D motion capture system and a force plate. Results: Fatigue induced similar increases in sway area and COP velocity for both populations. This was associated with a forward displacement of the COP position for both populations but with different postural adaptations. Similar increased flexions ( + 1.7 to 1.8 degrees) for all joint angles (ankle, knee, hip and back) joints were observed after fatigue for older adults, whereas young adults mainly showed increased flexion for the ankle joint ( + 3.1 degrees) and decreased flexion at the hip ( - 1.2 degrees). Significance: It can be argued that older adults act on all joints because they are too weak to sufficiently modify any joint individually, contrary to young adults. These posture adaptations may be strategies to cope with fatigue by limiting the reliance on fatigued plantarflexors, increasing ankle stiffness, increasing the sensitivity of muscle spindles, increasing the number of degrees of freedom of the task.

【 授权许可】

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