Determination of the optimal walking speed for neural relaxation in healthy elderly women using electromyogram and electroencephalogram analyses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the walking speed which has the greatest influence on neural relaxation in healthy elderly women as determined by electromyogram (EMG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) analyses. Seven elderly female volunteers [mean age 68.5 (SD 3.95) years] served as subjects for this study. The EMG signals were recorded from the gastrocnemius (MG), soleus (SL) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles while walking on a treadmill, starting at 40 m.min-1 and increasing 6 m.min-1 incrementally for 10 min. The turning point of muscle activities (by integrated EMG. iEMGtp) was determined as the walking speed at the point at which the mean rate of change of iEMG (MG + SL + TA) abruptly increased. After the determination of iEMGtp. the treadmill was set at three constant speeds, one corresponding to the speed for the iEMGtp and two others 20% higher or lower than that for the iEMGtp. The subjects then walked for 20 min at each of these speeds on 3 separate days and their EEG power spectrum data were obtained for frequencies from the 8 to 13 Hz (z-wave component, AWC). The mean of iEMGtp for our subjects was at a mean walking speed of 64.7 (SD 7.9) m.min-1. Considering the subjects' age and height, iEMGtp was somewhat faster than their expected self-paced normal walking speed. There were no differences between the mean AWC values of the subjects prior to exercising at each of the three speeds. The mean AWC values after exercise were significantly (P < 0.01) greater than before. The extent of the increase in AWC at iEMGtp was greater than those at slower speeds. Our data would suggest that walking exercise at the speed which corresponds with EMG evidence of iEMGtp may induce the most significant relaxing effects in elderly women.

Physiological Benefits of 24-style Taijiquan Exercise in Middle-aged Women

“…By comparison with the alpha%-power to beta%-power, both groups showed high beta%-power during exercise and big increases of alpha%-power after exercise. This is basically consistent with other reports about the influence of exercise on alpha-beta wave (Petruzzello and Landers, 1994;Shibata et al, 1997). However, 24TJQ is viewed as a general exercise, we thought that mind concentration or heavy somatic awareness on body motions in 24TJQ exercise also contributed to inhibit alpha appearance or displayed an alpha-attenuation pattern, which resulted in high appearance of beta%-power instead.…”

Psychological and Physiological Effects of 24-Style Taijiquan

“…The ␣ -wave increase after 24TJQ exercise corresponded well to the results of some previous studies, which reported an ␣ -wave increase after aquatic aerobics and walking exercises [14,18,19] . However, no changes in ␣ -wave were observed after ergometry exercise.…”

“…This suggested that the cerebral cortex activity did not decrease or become calm immediately after 24TJQ exercise (in the post1), but did become calm in the post2, which resulted in a relaxing effect on the mind and body [14] . Although occipital dominance of ␣ -wave is the ordinary pattern in normal psychological conditions, studies [15][16][17] have revealed that the wave will spread to the central and frontal regions, or appear simultaneously in the occipital region.…”

Adult age differences in familiarization to treadmill walking within virtual environments

“…The use of treadmills, in clinical and research settings [1][2][3][4][5][6], rests upon the assumption that reliable and valid measures of gait can be obtained during treadmill walking (TW) and that TW can be generalized to overground walking (OW). TW, in theory, is mechanically equivalent to OW, but in reality walking on a treadmill is initially an unfamiliar experience.…”