PTOtherGait & posture2021

Adaptations in trunk-pelvis coordination variability in response to fatiguing exercise.

Jo Armour Smith, Wilford K Eiteman-Pang, Rahul Soangra and 1 others

PMID 33260075

WHAT IT FOUND

Trunk muscle fatigue reduced stride-to-stride variability between the trunk and pelvis during walking turns in healthy adults.

The timing pattern of variability remained similar, and the analysis methods showed the same overall decrease.

Key findings

01Vector coding showed a significant decrease in trunk-pelvis coordination variability after fatigue across the stride cycle, stance phase, and swing phase.

02The ellipse area method showed a significant decrease after fatigue across the stride cycle and stance phase, but not during swing.

03Walking speed was maintained after fatigue, and the stance phase percentage of the stride cycle did not differ between conditions.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs

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What it does not show

Only 15 healthy adults were studied, aged 18 to 40, with no current back pain or lower limb injury. The task was a controlled 90-degree turn at 1.5 m/s on a 7-meter walkway. The paper states it is not clear how large a change in coordination variability is biomechanically or clinically significant. Fatigue level depended on participant motivation in the Sorensen test. Marker occlusion led to exclusions, but at least 11 turns were analysed for each participant.

Declared interests

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The supplied publication types list NIH extramural research support.

The easy way to misread this

Do not read the reduced variability as evidence of harmful trunk control problems in patients. The study was done in 15 healthy adults with no back pain, and the paper states that the clinical significance of the change is not clear.

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