Sex Differences in Human Ankle Stiffness During Standing Balance

Adjei, Ermyntrude; Nalam, Varun; Lee, Hyunglae

doi:10.3389/fspor.2020.570449

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This greater contribution of the ankle muscles could be adopted by females to counterbalance anatomical and mechanical differences (i.e. lower ankle stiffness for females) between the sexes, as previously demonstrated in the literature 25 . However, the observed neuromuscular difference between males and females did not generate an interaction with fatigue.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

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Fatigue of hip abductor muscles implies neuromuscular and kinematic adaptations of the ankle during dynamic balance

Dury

Michel

Ravier

2022

Scandinavian Med Sci Sports

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Determine whether hip abductor muscle fatigue influenced ankle kinematic and muscle activity during ankle-destabilized tasks. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Twenty-six healthy, active participants performed two tests (Star Excursion Balance Test, SEBT; Weight Bearing Inversion Test, WBIT) for assessment of dynamic balance and ability to control inversion. Participants were equipped with an ankle-destabilizing sandal in inversion and eversion to perform both tests, which were completed before and after a fatiguing exercise of hip abductor muscles (up to 50% reduction in strength). Electromyographic activity of peroneus longus (PL) and brevis (PB), tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius lateralis (GastL) and gluteus medius (GlutM) muscles were recorded. In addition, ankle kinematics were recorded using an inertial measurement unit. Results: Hip abductor fatigue induced a significant decrease in SEBT scores in three directions (p < 0.01). During SEBT, ankle supination decreased by 3.2° in the anterior and posteromedial directions (p < 0.01). Muscle activity of GastL increased during achievement of three directions (p < 0.05) in response to hip abductor fatigue. In posteromedial direction, PL (p < 0.001) and GlutM (p < 0.01) activity increased with fatigue. During WBIT, inversion angular velocity was not impacted by fatigue while, PB and GastL activity increased after fatiguing exercise (p < 0.005). Conclusion: A decrease in SEBT performance and EMG adaptations with proximal fatigue attest to the importance of the hip abductor muscle in dynamic postural control. This could have important implications in building injury prevention programs. Changes in ankle supination may reflect a protective strategy of the joint in response to hip fatigue.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…lower ankle stiffness for females) between the sexes, as previously demonstrated in the literature. 25 However, the observed neuromuscular difference between males and females did not generate an interaction with fatigue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Fatigue of hip abductor muscles implies neuromuscular and kinematic adaptations of the ankle during dynamic balance

Dury

Michel

Ravier

2022

Scandinavian Med Sci Sports

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“…Regarding the ankle, previous studies have demonstrated sex-related differences in anatomical and biomechanical features of the joint [ 59 ]. Adjei, Nalam, & Lee [ 66 ], congruently with Trevino and Lee [ 67 ], found that ankle stiffness varied significantly between sexes, both along the sagittal and frontal planes (therefore concurring in dorsiflexion/plantarflexion and inversion/eversion, respectively), with greater joint stiffness in females while both quiet standing and muscle activation occurred. The authors explain their findings with the greater passive resistance of females to a greater range of motion, lower elastic modulus, and higher ligamentous laxity [ 68 , 69 , 70 ] than males, which by contrast possess more leg muscle mass [ 71 ] and a higher muscle and cortical bone cross-sectional area in the whole lower limb [ 7 , 9 , 72 ] than females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Sexual Dimorphism in the Fibular Extremities of Italians and South Africans of Identified Modern Human Skeletal Collections: A Geometric Morphometric Approach

Pietrobelli

Sorrentino²,

Durante³

et al. 2022

Biology

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Fibular metric variations have revealed their potential in distinguishing between males and females; however the fibula remains scarcely analyzed in studies of sexual dimorphism. This work aims at investigating sexually dimorphic features in fibular proximal and distal epiphyses through geometric morphometrics methods. A total of 136 left fibulae, from two Italian and one South African identified skeletal collections were virtually acquired through CT and laser scanning and analyzed using geometric morphometric methods. Statistical analyses were performed on shape, form, and size variables. Results show that fibular epiphyses are smaller with narrower articular surfaces in females than in males in both extremities. Relevant sexual differences emerge in fibular form and size for the two Italian samples but not for the South African one, likely for its small sample size. Discriminant analysis on form principal components (PCs) offers accuracy above 80% when the samples are pooled, and reaches accuracy of 80–93% when the Italian samples are considered separately. However, our method on form PCs was not successful for the South African sample (50–53% accuracy), possibly due to the small sample size. These results show relevant morphological variation in relation to fibular form and size, with a degree of accuracy that indicates the utility of the present method for sexing human fibulae in both forensic and bioarchaeological contexts for Italian samples.

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“…Six able-bodied young participants were recruited to perform a series of experiments to validate the overall efficacy of the SR-AFO. The first performance evaluation was conducted using a dual-axis robotic platform, which characterized ankle stiffness as done in previous works with the participant staying in a quiet standing position ( Nalam et al, 2020 ; Adjei et al, 2020 ). The MAVS actuators were evaluated using the platform with the SR-AFO donned on the right foot in three conditions: passive (no pressure) and two pressure levels.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dual-axis robotic platform (Figure 12a), capable of applying position perturbations to the ankle in the sagittal and frontal planes and measuring the corresponding ankle torques, was used to quantify 2D ankle stiffness in both the sagittal and frontal planes. The platform was validated to accurately quantify 2D ankle stiffness during upright standing (Nalam and Lee, 2018; Nalam and Lee, 2019; Adjei et al, 2020; Nalam et al, 2020). The subject was asked to stand with the right foot placed on the robotic platform and the left foot on the elevated ground right next to the platform.…”

Section: Human Trials and Experimental Evaluation Of The Sr-afomentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-degrees-of-freedom soft robotic ankle-foot orthosis for gait assistance and variable ankle support

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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This paper presents the design, modeling, analysis, fabrication, and experimental characterization of the soft robotic ankle-foot orthosis (SR-AFO), which is a wearable soft robot designed for ankle assistance, and a pilot human study of its use. Using two novel pneumatically powered soft actuators, the SR-AFO is designed to assist the ankle in multiple degrees-of-freedom during standing and walking tasks. The flat fabric pneumatic artificial muscle (ff-PAM) contracts upon pressurization and assists ankle plantarflexion in the sagittal plane. The multi-material actuator for variable stiffness (MAVS) aids in supporting ankle inversion/eversion in the frontal plane. Analytical models of the ff-PAM and MAVS were created to understand how the changing of the design parameters affects tensile force generation and stiffness support, respectively. The models were validated by both finite element analysis and experimental characterization using a universal testing machine. A set of human experiments was performed with able-bodied participants to evaluate: (a) lateral ankle support during quiet standing, (b) lateral ankle support during walking over compliant surfaces, and (c) plantarflexion assistance during push-off in treadmill walking. Group results revealed increased lateral ankle stiffness during quiet standing with the MAVS active, reduced lateral ankle deflection while walking over compliant surfaces with the MAVS active, and reduced muscle effort in ankle platarflexors during 40–60% of the gait cycle with the dual ff-PAM active. The SR-AFO shows promising results in providing lateral ankle support and plantarflexion assistance with able-bodied participants, which suggests a potential to help restore the gait of impaired users in future trials.

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Sex Differences in Human Ankle Stiffness During Standing Balance

Cited by 10 publications

References 33 publications

Fatigue of hip abductor muscles implies neuromuscular and kinematic adaptations of the ankle during dynamic balance

Fatigue of hip abductor muscles implies neuromuscular and kinematic adaptations of the ankle during dynamic balance

Sexual Dimorphism in the Fibular Extremities of Italians and South Africans of Identified Modern Human Skeletal Collections: A Geometric Morphometric Approach

Multi-degrees-of-freedom soft robotic ankle-foot orthosis for gait assistance and variable ankle support

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