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Improving Strength, Power, Muscle Aerobic Capacity, and Glucose Tolerance through Short-term Progressive Strength Training Among Elderly People
Published on: July 5, 2017
Muscle synergies in preparation to a step made with obstacle in elderly individuals
Yun Wang1, Kazuhiko Watanabe2, Tadayoshi Asaka3
1Tianjin Key Lab of Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine, Department of Health and Exercise Science, Tianjin University of Sport, 51 Weijin South Street, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300381, China. yunwang70@hotmail.com.
Background:
To evaluate if multi-muscle synergies are comprised of flexible combinations of a small number of postural muscles to stabilize the center of pressure (COP) shift during preparation to making a step in the elderly (self-paced level stepping vs. obstacle crossing stepping).
Methods:
Electromyography (EMG) signals of leg and trunk muscles were recorded. Linear combination of integrated indices of muscle activity (M-modes) and their relationship to changes in the COP shift in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction were first determined. Uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis was performed to determine the extent to which variance of the M-modes acted to produce a consistent change in the COP displacement.
Results:
The elderly were capable of stabilizing the COPAP coordinate based on co-varied involvement of the M-modes. The synergy index (∆V) changes in the elderly emerged later (100 ms prior to t0) and its magnitude was smaller as compared to that reported in younger persons.
Conclusions:
Our study reveals that aging is associated with a preserved ability to explore the flexibility of the M-mode compositions but a decrease ability to use multi-M-mode synergies following a predictable perturbation.
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