Functional implications of muscle co-contraction during gait in advanced age.
Justine Lo, On-Yee Lo, Erin A Olson and 5 others
PMID 28129590WHAT IT FOUND
In older adults, more lower-extremity co-contraction was linked to longer cognitive test time, slower dual-task gait, and lower balance confidence, but not to physical or balance test scores.
Key findings
01Higher swing-phase co-contraction was associated with longer Trail Making Test set-shifting time during normal and dual-task walking.
02Higher stride and stance co-contraction was associated with slower gait speed only during dual-task walking, and higher stride co-contraction was associated with longer stride time during dual-task walking.
03Co-contraction was inversely related to balance confidence under normal and dual-task walking, but was not significantly related to SPPB or Berg Balance Scale scores after age adjustment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This was a baseline analysis of associations, not an intervention outcome, so it cannot show that Tai Chi or any treatment changed co-contraction. Only 56 of 65 recruited participants had usable co-contraction data; 9 had missing or corrupted EMG or footswitch data. The sample was small, very elderly, and selected from supportive housing, so the results may not apply to younger or less impaired adults. The study measured relative muscle activity, not absolute muscle activity. The observed relationships were weak, and physical and balance test scores were not significantly related to co-contraction after age adjustment.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing co-contraction will improve gait or reduce falls. This paper reports associations in baseline data, not an intervention effect, and some functional measures showed no relationship.