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Acute effects of localized muscle fatigue on postural control and patterns of recovery during upright stance: influence of fatigue location and age

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Abstract

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of fatigue location and age on changes in postural control induced by localized muscle fatigue, as well as the patterns of recovery post-fatigue. Groups of 16 younger (18–25 years) and 16 older (55–65 years) participants performed submaximal isotonic fatiguing exercises involving the unilateral ankle plantar flexors, knee extensors, and shoulder flexors, and bilateral lumbar extensors. Postural control was assessed during quiet upright stance, from center-of-pressure and center-of-mass time series obtained before and after the fatiguing exercises. Acute effects of fatigue differed between joints, with the most substantial effects evident at the lower back, followed by the ankle. Neither knee nor shoulder fatigue resulted in significant effects on postural control. Significant acute effects of fatigue were found only among the younger group. Recovery of postural control post-fatigue was influenced by age, being more rapid in the younger group, but not by fatigue location. Along with existing evidence, these results may facilitate the development of strategies to prevent occupational falls.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by Cooperative Agreement Number R01 OH0078802 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. The authors thank Mr. Nathan P. Fleming for his assistance in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 250 Durham Hall (0118), Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Dingding Lin, Maury A. Nussbaum & Hyang Seol

  2. Virginia Tech, Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Maury A. Nussbaum & Michael L. Madigan

  3. Julius Wolff Institut, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Navrag B. Singh

  4. Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Michael L. Madigan

  5. Packer Engineering, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Laura A. Wojcik

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  1. Dingding Lin
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Correspondence to Maury A. Nussbaum.

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Lin, D., Nussbaum, M.A., Seol, H. et al. Acute effects of localized muscle fatigue on postural control and patterns of recovery during upright stance: influence of fatigue location and age. Eur J Appl Physiol 106, 425–434 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-009-1026-5

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