Steadiness as a Function of Prior Exercise

Abstract

The effect of exercise on arm and hand steadiness was studied in two experiments. Unsteadiness following exercise was 35, 53, and 181% greater than pre-pedaling performance for the treatments in which heart rate (HR) was raised to 100, 130, and 160 bpm respectively. The recovery pattern of steadiness following 6 min. of cycling exercise (mean HR 169 bpm) was measured; immediately following the exercise unsteadiness was 143% greater than during pre-pedaling performance and decreased as more time elapsed between the exercise and the steadiness task. When measured 240 sec. after the exercise, unsteadiness was still 28% greater than in pre-exercise performance. Steadiness is markedly affected by preliminary exercise which raises the activation level, with unsteadiness being greatest at the highest levels of activation.

Assessing muscular fatigue with a portable tremor measurement system suitable for field use

“…Such an application requires a portable apparatus, as well as procedures that can be easily administered in a timely fashion. Previous investigators have made use of a portable hand stylus device to examine muscular tremor (Borg, 1969;Borg & Sjoberg, 1981;Gutin, Fogel, Meyer, & Jaeger, 1974;Rosa & Colligan, 1988;Rosa, Colligan, & Lewis, 1989;Rosa, Wheeler, Warm, & Colligan, 1985). In these experiments, hand tremor was studied by having subjects attempt to center a conductive metal wand inside a small opening sensitive to contact.…”

The Variation of Hand Steadiness with Physical Stress

“…Borg (1969), studying subjects at three work loads on a bicycle ergometer (25, 55, and 85% of their maximal capacity) and measuring hand steadiness during 20 sec immediately after the termination of each load, found that hand steadiness was optimal during rest and deteriorated as the work load increased. Gutin, Fogle, Meyer, and Jaeger, (1974) also used three work loads inducing heart rates (HR) of 100, 130, and 160 beats per min respectively in each subject. They found that steadiness was markedly affected by the preceding exercise, which raises the activation level, unsteadiness being greatest at the highest level of activation (HR=160).…”