Differences in muscle coactivation during postural control between healthy older and young adults

Nagai, Koutatsu; Yamada, Minoru; Uemura, Kazunori; Yamada, Yosuke; Ichihashi, Noriaki; Tsuboyama, Tadao

doi:10.1016/j.archger.2011.01.003

Cited by 176 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Similar results were observed by Melzer, Benjuya, and Kaplanski (2001), in which older adults adopted a more rigid postural strategy through cocontraction around the ankle joint that was used in maintaining balance in a narrow stance with the addition of a cognitive task. Several other studies corroborated such findings, demonstrating an increase in muscle coactivation in the elderly compared with young adults while controlling posture (Nagai et al, 2011;Woollacott & Shumway-Cook, 1990). The reason for the adoption of such a strategy by older adults could be attributed to a number of factors, including deficits acquired during the aging process in the sensory system, motor system, and/or sensorimotor integration processing.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Effects of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults.

Aguiar¹,

Polastri²,

Godoi³

et al. 2015

Psychology & Neuroscience

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Saccadic eye movements have been shown to affect posture by decreasing the magnitude of body sway in young adults. However, there is no evidence of how the search for visual information that occurs during eye movements affects postural control in older adults. The purpose of the present study was to determine the influence of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults while they stood on 2 different bases of support. Twelve older adults stood upright in 70-s trials under 2 stance conditions (wide and narrow) and 3 gaze conditions (fixation, saccadic eye movements at 0.5 Hz, and saccadic eye movements at 1.1 Hz). Head and trunk sway amplitude and mean sway frequency were measured in both the anterior/posterior (AP) and medial/lateral (ML) directions. The results showed that the amplitude of body sway was reduced during saccades compared with fixation, as previously observed in young adults. However, older adults exhibited similar sway amplitude and frequency in the AP direction under the wide and narrow stance conditions, which is different from observations in young adults, who display larger sway in a narrow stance compared with a wide stance while performing saccades. These results suggest that although older adults are affected by saccadic eye movements by a decrease in the amplitude of body sway, as observed in young adults, they present a more rigid postural control strategy that does not allow larger sway during a more challenging stance condition.Keywords: aging, eye movements, posture, saccades, visual information Postural control is fundamental for performing numerous daily activities. The main behavioral goals involved in the control of posture are postural equilibrium (related to the balance of forces that act on the body) and postural orientation (related to the positioning of body seg-

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Effects of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults.

Aguiar¹,

Polastri²,

Godoi³

et al. 2015

Psychology & Neuroscience

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“…Thus, it seems that in order to maintain the vertical head-trunk orientation during the unpredictable perturbation, older adults initially employed a more conservative strategy of increasing the trunk stiffness. Similar strategies of increasing joint stiffness with co-activation of trunk and thigh muscles in response to a perturbation have been previously reported in healthy young and old individuals (Allum et al 1989;Berger et al 1992;Nagai et al 2011) and in individuals with Parkinson's disease (Dimitrova et al 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Aging and balance control in response to external perturbations: role of anticipatory and compensatory postural mechanisms

Kanekar

Aruin

2014

AGE

101

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The ability to maintain balance deteriorates with increasing age. Anticipatory and compensatory postural adjustments (APAs and CPAs, respectively), both, are known to be affected in the elderly. We examined the effect of aging on the ability of older adults to utilize APAs and its effect on subsequent control of posture (CPAs). Ten elderly individuals were exposed to external predictable and unpredictable perturbations applied to the upper body in the sagittal plane. Body kinematics, electromyographic activity of 13 muscles, and ground reaction forces were analyzed during the anticipatory and compensatory phases of postural control. The elderly were capable of recognizing an upcoming predictable perturbation and activated muscles prior to it. However, the older adults used different muscle strategies and sequence of muscle recruitment than that reported in young adults. Additionally, when the perturbations were unpredictable, no APAs were seen which resulted in large CPAs and greater peak displacements of the center of pressure (COP) and center of mass (COM) following perturbations. As opposed to this, when the perturbations were predictable, APAs were seen in older adults resulting in significantly smaller CPAs. The presence and utilization of APAs in older adults also improved postural stability following the perturbation as seen by significantly smaller COP and COM peak displacements. Using APAs in older adults significantly reduces the need for large CPAs, resulting in greater postural stability following a perturbation. The results provide a foundation for investigating the role of training in improving the interplay between anticipatory and compensatory postural control in older adults.

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“…Although coactivation was not a primary outcome measure in this investigation, we assume that the constantly elevated muscle amplitudes of TIB in seniors during SLEO led to enhanced coactivation of the ankle muscles [37]. Coactivation has been shown to be associated with increased postural sway during standing balance tasks [38]. In this regard, an increased coactivation would stiffen the joint in order to reduce destabilization effects and thus reflect a more inefficient neuromuscular strategy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a Single Session of High-Intensity Interval Training Provoke a Transient Elevated Risk of Falling in Seniors and Adults?

et al. 2014

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Background: Balance and strength training can reduce seniors' fall risk up to 50%. Available evidence suggests that acute bouts of neuromuscular and endurance exercise deteriorate postural control. High-intensity endurance training has been successfully applied in different populations. Thus, it seemed valuable to examine the acute effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on neuromuscular performance in seniors and young adults. Objective: The acute impact of a HIIT session on balance performance and muscle activity after exercise cessation and during post-exercise recovery was examined in young and old adults. We intended to investigate whether a transient exercise-induced fall-risk may occur in both groups. Methods: 20 healthy seniors (age 70 (SD 4) years) and young adults (age 27 (SD 3) years) were examined on 3 days. After exhaustive ramp-like treadmill testing in order to determine maximal heart rate (HR_max) on the first day, either a 4 × 4 min HIIT at 90% of HR_max or a control condition (CON) was randomly performed on the second and third day, respectively. Balance performance (postural sway) was assessed during single limb stance with open eyes (SLEO) and double limb stance with closed eyes (DLEC). EMG was recorded for the soleus (SOL), anterior tibialis (TIB), gastrocnemius (GM) and peroneus longus (PL) muscles at the dominant leg. All measures were collected before, immediately as well as 10, 30 and 45 min after HIIT and CON, respectively. Results: Compared to CON, HIIT induced significant increases of postural sway immediately after exercise cessation during SLEO in both groups (adults: p < 0.001, Δ = +25% sway; seniors: p = 0.007, Δ = +15% sway). Increased sway during DLEC was only found for seniors immediately and 10 min after HIIT (post: p = 0.003, Δ = +14% sway, 10 min post: p = 0.004, Δ = +18% sway). Muscle activity was increased during SLEO for TIB until 10 min post in seniors (0.008 < p < 0.03) and immediately after HIIT in adults (p < 0.001). Conclusion: HIIT training may cause an acute ‘open-fall-window' with a transient impairment of balance performance for at least 10 min after exercise cessation in both groups. Occluded vision in seniors seems to prolong this period up to 30 min. Thus, the advantage of HIIT with regard to time efficiency seems debatable when considering transient HIIT-induced impairments of neuromuscular function.

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Differences in muscle coactivation during postural control between healthy older and young adults

Cited by 176 publications

References 29 publications

Effects of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults.

Effects of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults.

Aging and balance control in response to external perturbations: role of anticipatory and compensatory postural mechanisms

Does a Single Session of High-Intensity Interval Training Provoke a Transient Elevated Risk of Falling in Seniors and Adults?

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