Cargando…

Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults

Gait speed declines with age and slower walking speeds are associated with poor health outcomes. Understanding why we do not walk faster as we age, despite being able to, has implications for rehabilitation. Changes in regional oxygenated haemoglobin (HbO2) across the frontal lobe were monitored usi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Alcock, Lisa, Vitório, Rodrigo, Stuart, Samuel, Rochester, Lynn, Pantall, Annette
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10422240/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37571703
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23156921
_version_ 1785089156302503936
author Alcock, Lisa
Vitório, Rodrigo
Stuart, Samuel
Rochester, Lynn
Pantall, Annette
author_facet Alcock, Lisa
Vitório, Rodrigo
Stuart, Samuel
Rochester, Lynn
Pantall, Annette
author_sort Alcock, Lisa
collection PubMed
description Gait speed declines with age and slower walking speeds are associated with poor health outcomes. Understanding why we do not walk faster as we age, despite being able to, has implications for rehabilitation. Changes in regional oxygenated haemoglobin (HbO2) across the frontal lobe were monitored using functional near infrared spectroscopy in 17 young and 18 older adults while they walked on a treadmill for 5 min, alternating between 30 s of walking at a preferred and fast (120% preferred) speed. Gait was quantified using a triaxial accelerometer (lower back). Differences between task (preferred/fast) and group (young/old) and associations between regional HbO2 and gait were evaluated. Paired tests indicated increased HbO2 in the supplementary motor area (right) and primary motor cortex (left and right) in older adults when walking fast (p < 0.006). HbO2 did not significantly change in the young when walking fast, despite both groups modulating gait. When evaluating the effect of age (linear mixed effects model), greater increases in HbO2 were observed for older adults when walking fast (prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area and primary motor cortex) compared to young adults. In older adults, increased step length and reduced step length variability were associated with larger increases in HbO2 across multiple regions when walking fast. Walking fast required increased activation of motor regions in older adults, which may serve as a therapeutic target for rehabilitation. Widespread increases in HbO2 across the frontal cortex highlight that walking fast represents a resource-intensive task as we age.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10422240
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-104222402023-08-13 Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults Alcock, Lisa Vitório, Rodrigo Stuart, Samuel Rochester, Lynn Pantall, Annette Sensors (Basel) Article Gait speed declines with age and slower walking speeds are associated with poor health outcomes. Understanding why we do not walk faster as we age, despite being able to, has implications for rehabilitation. Changes in regional oxygenated haemoglobin (HbO2) across the frontal lobe were monitored using functional near infrared spectroscopy in 17 young and 18 older adults while they walked on a treadmill for 5 min, alternating between 30 s of walking at a preferred and fast (120% preferred) speed. Gait was quantified using a triaxial accelerometer (lower back). Differences between task (preferred/fast) and group (young/old) and associations between regional HbO2 and gait were evaluated. Paired tests indicated increased HbO2 in the supplementary motor area (right) and primary motor cortex (left and right) in older adults when walking fast (p < 0.006). HbO2 did not significantly change in the young when walking fast, despite both groups modulating gait. When evaluating the effect of age (linear mixed effects model), greater increases in HbO2 were observed for older adults when walking fast (prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area and primary motor cortex) compared to young adults. In older adults, increased step length and reduced step length variability were associated with larger increases in HbO2 across multiple regions when walking fast. Walking fast required increased activation of motor regions in older adults, which may serve as a therapeutic target for rehabilitation. Widespread increases in HbO2 across the frontal cortex highlight that walking fast represents a resource-intensive task as we age. MDPI 2023-08-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10422240/ /pubmed/37571703 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23156921 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Alcock, Lisa
Vitório, Rodrigo
Stuart, Samuel
Rochester, Lynn
Pantall, Annette
Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults
title Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults
title_full Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults
title_fullStr Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults
title_full_unstemmed Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults
title_short Faster Walking Speeds Require Greater Activity from the Primary Motor Cortex in Older Adults Compared to Younger Adults
title_sort faster walking speeds require greater activity from the primary motor cortex in older adults compared to younger adults
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10422240/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37571703
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s23156921
work_keys_str_mv AT alcocklisa fasterwalkingspeedsrequiregreateractivityfromtheprimarymotorcortexinolderadultscomparedtoyoungeradults
AT vitoriorodrigo fasterwalkingspeedsrequiregreateractivityfromtheprimarymotorcortexinolderadultscomparedtoyoungeradults
AT stuartsamuel fasterwalkingspeedsrequiregreateractivityfromtheprimarymotorcortexinolderadultscomparedtoyoungeradults
AT rochesterlynn fasterwalkingspeedsrequiregreateractivityfromtheprimarymotorcortexinolderadultscomparedtoyoungeradults
AT pantallannette fasterwalkingspeedsrequiregreateractivityfromtheprimarymotorcortexinolderadultscomparedtoyoungeradults