Kuhman Daniel, Moll Alyson, Reed William, Rosenblatt Noah, Visscher Kristina, Walker Harrison, Hurt Christopher P
Rehabilitation Science, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Physical Therapy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
IBRO Neurosci Rep. 2022 Feb 1;12:149-156. doi: 10.1016/j.ibneur.2022.01.007. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Locomotor adaptation relies on processes of both the peripheral and central nervous systems that may be compromised with advanced age (e.g., proprioception, sensorimotor integration). Age-related changes to these processes may result in reduced rates of locomotor adaptation under normal conditions and should cause older adults to be disproportionately more affected by sensory manipulations during adaptation compared to younger adults. 17 younger and 10 older adults completed five separate 5-minute split-belt walking trials: three under normal sensory conditions, one with 30% bodyweight support (meant to reduce proprioceptive input), and one with goggles that constrained the visual field (meant to reduce visual input). We fit step length symmetry data from each participant in each trial with a single exponential function and used the time constant to quantify locomotor adaption rate. Group by trial ANOVAs were used to test the effects of age, condition, and their interaction on adaptation rates. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence that sensory manipulations disproportionately affected older compared to younger adults, at least in our relatively small sample. In fact, in both groups, adaptation rates remained unaffected across all trials, including both normal and sensory manipulated trials. Our results provide evidence that both younger and older adults were able to adequately reweight sources of sensory information based on environmental constraints, indicative of well-functioning neural processes of motor adaptation.
运动适应依赖于外周和中枢神经系统的过程，而这些过程可能会随着年龄的增长而受到损害（例如本体感觉、感觉运动整合）。这些过程中与年龄相关的变化可能会导致在正常情况下运动适应率降低，并且与年轻人相比，老年人在适应过程中应会受到感觉操纵的影响更大。17名年轻人和10名老年人完成了五项单独的5分钟分带步行试验：三项在正常感觉条件下进行，一项在30%体重支持下进行（旨在减少本体感觉输入），一项戴着限制视野的护目镜进行（旨在减少视觉输入）。我们用一个单指数函数拟合了每个参与者在每次试验中的步长对称性数据，并使用时间常数来量化运动适应率。通过组间试验方差分析来测试年龄、条件及其相互作用对适应率的影响。与我们的假设相反，我们没有发现证据表明感觉操纵对老年人的影响比对年轻人的影响更大，至少在我们相对较小的样本中是这样。事实上，在两组中，所有试验（包括正常试验和感觉操纵试验）的适应率都保持不变。我们的结果提供了证据，表明年轻人和老年人都能够根据环境限制充分重新权衡感觉信息来源，这表明运动适应的神经过程功能良好。
