Scientific article
Review
OA Policy
English

Age-related modifications of muscle synergies during daily-living tasks: A scoping review

Published inClinical biomechanics, vol. 113, 106207
Publication date2024-03
First online date2024-02-15
Abstract

Background: Aging is associated with changes in neuromuscular control that can lead to difficulties in performing daily living tasks. Muscle synergy analysis allows the assessment of neuromuscular control strategies and functional deficits. However, the age-related changes of muscle synergies during functional tasks are scattered throughout the literature. This review aimed to synthesize the existing literature on muscle synergies in elderly people during daily-living tasks and examine how they differ from those exhibited by young adults.

Methods: The Medline, CINAHL and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies were included if they focused on muscle synergies in elderly people during walking, sit-to-stand or stair ascent, and if muscle synergies were obtained by a matrix factorization algorithm.

Findings: Seventeen studies were included after the screening process. The muscle synergies of 295 elderly people and 182 young adults were reported, including 5 to 16 muscles per leg, or leg and trunk. Results suggest that: 1) elderly people and young adults retain similar muscle synergies' number, 2) elderly people have higher muscles weighting during walking, and 3) an increased inter and intra-subject temporal activation variability during specific tasks (i.e., walking and stair ascent, respectively) was reported in elderly people compared to young adults.

Interpretation: This review gives a comprehensive understanding of age-related changes in neuromuscular control during daily living tasks. Our findings suggested that although the number of synergies remains similar, metrics such as spatial and temporal structures of synergies are more suitable to identify neuromuscular control deficits between young adults and elderly people.

Keywords
  • Elderly
  • Electromyography
  • Gait
  • Muscle coordination
  • Sit-to-stand
  • Stair ascent
  • Aged
  • Aging / physiology
  • Humans
  • Muscle, Skeletal / physiology
  • Walking / physiology
  • Young Adult
Citation (ISO format)
DUSSAULT-PICARD, Cloé et al. Age-related modifications of muscle synergies during daily-living tasks: A scoping review. In: Clinical biomechanics, 2024, vol. 113, p. 106207. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2024.106207
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0268-0033
33views
14downloads

Technical informations

Creation20/02/2024 07:03:37
First validation27/03/2024 17:38:26
Update time27/03/2024 17:38:26
Status update27/03/2024 17:38:26
Last indexation01/11/2024 09:04:28
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack