Park Kyung-Mi, Kim Olga, Seo Eun Young, Gemechu Duguma Teshome, Lee Song Joo
Bionics Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea.
Division of Bio-Medical Science and Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2025 Sep 17. doi: 10.1007/s00421-025-05986-w.
Age-related physiological changes affect neuromuscular control, potentially increasing functional limitations and fall risk among older adults. The aim of this study was to investigate how age affects various aspects related to pivoting neuromuscular control during stepping tasks, such as stepping speed, pivoting instability, and entropy of time to peak electromyography (EMG) in lower extremity muscles.
Twenty-three healthy individuals (12 young and 11 older) participated in this study. Participants performed stepping tasks on a modified stepper that allowed pivoting motion, defined as rotational movement in the transverse plane at the knee joint (i.e., tibial rotation relative to the femur). When performing stepping tasks while controlling a pivoting motion, stepping speeds, pivoting instability, and entropy of time to peak EMG of lower extremity muscles were assessed and compared between young and older groups.
The older group showed significantly lower stepping speed (p < 0.05), greater pivoting instability (p < 0.05), and higher entropy of time to peak EMG (p < 0.05), compared to the young group.
Older adults exhibited lower ability in pivoting neuromuscular control compared with the young individuals during the stepping task. These findings may enhance our understanding of the potential risk factors for injury associated with age-related differences in pivoting neuromuscular control.
与年龄相关的生理变化会影响神经肌肉控制，可能会增加老年人的功能受限和跌倒风险。本研究的目的是调查年龄如何影响在踏步任务期间与枢转神经肌肉控制相关的各个方面，例如踏步速度、枢转不稳定性以及下肢肌肉肌电图（EMG）达到峰值时间的熵。
23名健康个体（12名年轻人和11名老年人）参与了本研究。参与者在一个经过改良的踏步机上执行踏步任务，该踏步机允许枢转运动，枢转运动定义为膝关节在横断面的旋转运动（即胫骨相对于股骨的旋转）。在执行踏步任务并控制枢转运动时，评估并比较了年轻人和老年人组的踏步速度、枢转不稳定性以及下肢肌肉EMG达到峰值时间的熵。
与年轻组相比，老年组的踏步速度显著更低（p < 0.05），枢转不稳定性更大（p < 0.05），并且EMG达到峰值时间的熵更高（p < 0.05）。
在踏步任务期间，与年轻人相比，老年人在枢转神经肌肉控制方面表现出较低的能力。这些发现可能会增强我们对与枢转神经肌肉控制的年龄相关差异相关的潜在损伤风险因素的理解。
