Does exercise-induced muscle fatigue lead to changes in movement behaviour? Preliminary insights from a stepping-down paradigm

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PB Voorn1,2; D Bossen1; B Visser1,2; M Pijnappels2
1.Faculty of Health, Sport and Physical Activity, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 2.Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Scientific Research
SP - Falls
Falls
View DOI

Abstract

Introduction

Walking is one of the most reported activities preceding a fall in older adults. Exercise-induced muscle fatigue leads to changes in gait, potentially increasing older adults’ fall risk during walking. Furthermore, exercise-induced gait alterations are not well perceived by older adults, which possibly adds to a misjudgement of their abilities. Whether exercise-induced fatigue leads to changes in (risk-taking) movement behaviour during walking is currently unknown. We aimed to evaluate the effect of exercise-induced fatigue on preferred landing strategy when stepping down a curb, and whether margin of stability interacts with the observed landing strategy.

Method

Currently, nineteen older adults (78 years, 14 females) were assessed while walking 24 times (12 in non-fatigued, and 12 times in fatigued state) on a wooden walkway of approximately 10 meters. After walking 7,5 meters on the walkway, participants had to step down a 7,7 cm high height difference while maintaining their walking speed at 1.1 m/s, guided by a LED strip alongside the walkway. Landing strategy (heel- or toe landing) was classified based on visual inspection. Margin of Stability in anterior-posterior and medio-lateral direction was calculated during walking based on OpenCap markerless motion capture. The fatiguing protocol consisted of 10 minutes of treadmill walking at 1.1 m/s, with a stepwise increase of inclination until an angle of 14 degrees; this protocol was partially repeated twice between walking trails in fatigued state to avoid recovery.

Results

Preliminary results show that older adults primarily used toe-landings in both non-fatigued and fatigued conditions, and no significant changes were found in landing strategy. Furthermore, no significant interaction was found between fatigue condition and margin of stability (both in anterior-posterior and medio-lateral direction) for predicting landing strategy. 

Conclusion

Additional data is currently collected and will be analysed for final conclusions.

Presentation

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