Upper extremity movement pattern of a common drinking task in well elderly women: A pilot study

Retraining of the upper limb during neurological rehabilitation often involves preparatory therapeutic exercises of concentric and eccentric nature embedded in purposeful activity. However, empirical baseline studies are lacking to justify efficacy of such training. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of concentric and eccentric exercises on upper extremity movement pattern in healthy elderly persons during a common daily functional task. Nine young women aged between 22 and 23 years and nine elderly women between 70 and 78 years participated in the musculoskeletal study of lifting a cup of water to sip and then lowering the cup back to a table. Two-dimensional forearm movement kinematics and associated electromyography from biceps and triceps were analysed. Forearm motor performance in the elderly participants were slower and needed more corrections compared to the younger participants. The electromyography revealed that lifting and lowering movements were accomplished by concentric and eccentric muscle firing in the biceps. However, in the elderly the muscle responses were varied suggesting a possible decline in object-related visuomotor co-ordination with age. The results indicate that movement patterns and muscular response decline in elderly people during preparatory therapeutic exercises embedded in purposeful activity. The effect of therapeutic exercises on upper limb functional performance needs to be further investigated in patient populations to explore the effectiveness of embedded therapeutic exercises in movement retraining. Small sample number limits the results of the study to be generalized. In addition, future studies should measure movement of more limb and hand segments to gain understanding of the total upper extremity performance during the task.