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Differences in postural sway among healthy adults are associated with the ability to perform steady contractions with leg muscles

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Abstract

Upright standing involves small displacements of the center of mass about the base of support. These displacements are often quantified by measuring various kinematic features of the center-of-pressure trajectory. The plantar flexors have often been identified as the key muscles for the control of these displacements; however, studies have suggested that the hip abductor and adductors may also be important. The purpose of our study was to determine the association between the force capabilities of selected leg muscles and sway-area rate across four balance conditions in young (25 ± 4 years; 12/19 women) and older adults (71 ± 5 years; 5/19 women). Due to the marked overlap in sway-area rate between the two age groups, the data were collapsed, and individuals were assigned to groups of low- and high-sway area rates based on a k-medoid cluster analysis. The number of participants assigned to each group varied across balance conditions and a subset of older adults was always included in the low-sway group for each balance condition. The most consistent explanatory variable for the variance in sway-area rate was force control of the hip abductors and ankle dorsiflexors as indicated by the magnitude of the normalized force fluctuations (force steadiness) during a submaximal isometric contraction. The explanatory power of the regression models varied across conditions, thereby identifying specific balance conditions that should be examined further in future studies of postural control.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder, Campus Box 354, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Leah A. Davis, Stephen P. Allen, Alena M. Grabowski & Roger M. Enoka

  2. Center for Orthopedic Biomechanics, Ritchie School of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Denver, 2155 E. Wesley Ave., Denver, CO, 80210, USA

    Landon D. Hamilton

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  1. Leah A. Davis
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  2. Stephen P. Allen
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  4. Alena M. Grabowski
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  5. Roger M. Enoka
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Correspondence to Leah A. Davis.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (CU Boulder Institutional Review Board: #16–0806) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Communicated by Winston D Byblow.

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Davis, L.A., Allen, S.P., Hamilton, L.D. et al. Differences in postural sway among healthy adults are associated with the ability to perform steady contractions with leg muscles. Exp Brain Res 238, 487–497 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-019-05719-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-019-05719-4

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