Age-specific modulation of intermuscular beta coherence during gait before and after experimentally induced fatigue.

ABSTRACT: We examined the effects of age on intermuscular beta-band (15-35 Hz) coherence during treadmill walking before and after experimentally induced fatigue. Older (n?=?12) and younger (n?=?12) adults walked on a treadmill at 1.2 m/s for 3 min before and after repetitive sit-to-stand, rSTS, to induce muscle fatigability. We measured stride outcomes and coherence from 100 steps in the dominant leg for the synergistic (biceps femoris (BF)-semitendinosus, rectus femoris (RF)-vastus lateralis (VL), gastrocnemius lateralis (GL)-Soleus (SL), tibialis anterior (TA)-peroneus longus (PL)) and for the antagonistic (RF-BF and TA-GL) muscle pairs at late swing and early stance. Older vs. younger adults had 43-62% lower GL-SL, RF-VL coherence in swing and TA-PL and RF-VL coherence in stance. After rSTS, RF-BF coherence in late swing decreased by?~?20% and TA-PL increased by 16% independent of age (p?=?0.02). Also, GL-SL coherence decreased by?~?23% and increased by?~?23% in younger and older, respectively. Age affects the oscillatory coupling between synergistic muscle pairs, delivered presumably via corticospinal tracts, during treadmill walking. Muscle fatigability elicits age-specific changes in the common fluctuations in muscle activity, which could be interpreted as a compensation for muscle fatigability to maintain gait performance.

SUBMITTER: Dos Santos PCR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7522269 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature