Age and Sex Differences of Controlled Force Exertion Measured by a Computer-generated Sinusoidal Target-pursuit System

Nagasawa, Yoshinori; Demura, Shinichi

doi:10.2114/jpa2.28.199

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The cerebellum is thought to serve as a comparator for the actual movement that is occurring and the intended movement and is also used in the processing of visual feedback (Ghez and Thach, 2001). Previous studies of age related changes in grip force control have shown increased variability of force production (Nagasawa and Demura, 2009) and increased reliance on visual feedback in older adults (Sosnoff and Newell, 2007). These changes in force variability and visual processing could explain the higher levels of activity within the cerebellum for the older group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Aging effects on the control of grip force magnitude: An fMRI study

Noble

Eng

Kokotilo

et al. 2011

Experimental Gerontology

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Functional neuroimaging techniques have allowed for investigations into the mechanisms of agerelated deterioration in motor control. This study used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate age related differences in the control of grip force magnitude. Using an event-related design, fMRI scans were completed on 13 older adults, and 13 gender matched younger adults, while using their dominant hand to squeeze a rubber bulb for 4s at 10%, 40% or 70% of their maximum voluntary contraction. Both groups were able to match the relative force targets, however the older adults produced significantly lower levels of absolute force. fMRI analysis consisted of a 1) region of interest (ROI) approach to detect differences in selected motor areas within brain and 2) a voxel-wise whole brain comparison to find areas of differential activation that were not defined a priori between the older and younger group. The ROI analysis revealed that despite producing lower levels of absolute force, the older adults showed higher levels of activity predominantly in subcortical structures (putamen, thalamus and cerebellum) when compared to the younger group. The older adults also showed higher levels of activity in the ipsilateral ventral premotor cortex. A total of 19 of the 22 ROIs analyzed showed a significant main effect of the required force-level. In the majority of the ROIs that showed a significant force effect there were no significant differences in the magnitude of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal between the 10% and 40% conditions but a significantly higher BOLD signal in the 70% condition, suggesting that the modulation of brain activation with grip force may not be controlled in a linear fashion. It was also found that the older adult group demonstrate higher levels of activation in 7 areas during a force production task at higher force levels using a voxelwise analysis. The 7 clusters that showed significant differences tended to be areas that are involved in visual-spatial and executive processing. The results of this study revealed that older adults require significantly higher activation of several areas to perform the same motor task as younger adults. Higher magnitudes of the BOLD signal in older adults may represent a compensatory pattern to counter age related deterioration in motor control systems.Corresponding Author: Janice J. Eng, PT, OT, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia, 212-2177 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3, Janice.Eng@ubc.ca, Phone: IntroductionThe normal aging process leads to several declines of the motor system that are related to changes within the central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and the musculoskeletal system (Seidler et al., 2010). These changes have the potential to lead to decreased motor performance with aging, which has been observed in the forms of decreased coordination, increased movement variability, slower movements and difficulties with balance and gait (Seidler et al., 2...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Aging effects on the control of grip force magnitude: An fMRI study

Noble

Eng

Kokotilo

et al. 2011

Experimental Gerontology

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“…Thaweewannakij et al [20] reported that healthy elderly males perform better in the 10-m obstacle walking time, Berg balance scale, and 6-min walking tests than females for all age groups. Males generally perform better in grip strength, while females perform better in the sitting trunk flexion test [21,22]. Similar gender differences are also found in the standard values, because the results for grip strength, 10-m obstacle walking time, one-legged balance with eyes open test, situps, and 6-min walking tend to be higher in males whereas those for sitting trunk flexion values are higher in females (see Table 1).…”

Section: Gender and Age-related Differences In Physical Function Of Tmentioning

confidence: 65%

Age-and Gender-related Differences in Physical Functions of the Elderly following 1-year Regular Exercise Therapy: Comparison with Standard Values

Sugimoto¹,

Demura²,

Nagasawa³

2014

AJSSM

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Only limited data are available regarding the physical functions of elderly patients during the maintenance period after suffering from cardiac or other serious diseases. This study aimed to clarify age-and gender-related differences in the elderly physical functions by mainly comparing data from elderly subjects during the maintenance period with nationwide physical fitness data of healthy elderly subjects collected by the Japanese Ministry of Education. One hundred and sixty-seven elderly individuals who participated in a regular exercise therapy program twice a week participated in this study. Grip strength, 10-m obstacle walking time, one-legged balance with eyes open, sit-ups, sitting trunk flexion, and 6-min walking were selected as the physical function tests. In the gender and age groups considered, compared with the standard value, grip strength, sit-ups, and sitting trunk flexion were lower; 10-m obstacle walking time was similar or higher; and 6-min walking data were similar. Onelegged balance with eyes open was lower in subjects, except for males in the young elderly group. Grip strength was significantly higher in females than in males; however, the results from the 10-m obstacle walking time, one-legged balance with eyes open, sit-ups, and 6-min walking tests did not show any significant difference between genders. The young old elderly groups performed better in all tests, except for sit-ups and one-legged balance with eyes open (females), in both genders compared with the old elderly groups. In conclusion, during the maintenance period, the elderly subjects who participated in group sports and exercise therapy performed similarly or better in the 10-m obstacle walking time and 6-min walking tests than the healthy elderly individuals of the same age group; however, they performed worse in grip strength, sit-ups, and sitting trunk flexion. However, our results suggest that the effect of performing sports and exercise therapy may differ between genders.

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“…The cerebellum is generally associated with skilled motor movements, and the basal ganglia, in particular, the striatonigral system is associated with gross motor behavior [23]. Reports by several researchers [1,17,18] confirm that aged-related differences in CFE are greater with pursuit movements, and CFE ability decreases with age. In the present study, tests were performed with submaximal muscular exertion with a moderate cycle (0.1 Hz) of changing demand value.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…No significant differences were found for CFE scores in the three groups. Nagasawa and Demura [18] reported that in individuals aged more than 50 years, CFE measured by the sinusoidal waveform shows a marked decrease. In the young-aged group in our study, the insignificant correlation between CFE and the maximum grip strength indicated that this group of participants experienced a similar difficulty with respect to CFE that is not dependent on the magnitude of force output.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in the actual grip-exertion value were displayed as left to right waveform changes with respect to space and time and the demand value. The demand values varied over a period of 40 s at a frequency of 0.1 Hz [16,17]. Participants performed a grip exertion task, attempting to match the grip strength value with the demand value as displayed on the computer.…”

Section: Submaximal Controlled Force Exertion Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

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