Human Physiology Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Human Physiology Theses and Dissertations by Subject "aging"

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    Effects of Fatigue on Balance Control During Dual-task Walking
    (University of Oregon, 2020-02-27) Chen, Szu-Hua; Chou, Li-Shan
    Fatigue is one of the most frequently mentioned symptoms among older adults. Although there were many studies examining effects of fatigue on walking and balance control, the findings were inconclusive due to methodology discrepancy. In addition, the cognitive component is often neglected. Therefore, four studies were conducted in this dissertation to investigate how fatigue affects balance control during dual-task locomotion in older adults using a laboratory fatiguing protocol, and further, how these findings could be applied in real-life settings. In the first study, we demonstrated the use of a repetitive sit-to-stand protocol by examining changes in inter-joint coordination variability along the course of the protocol. The findings suggested that the knee-ankle coordination variability was higher towards the end of protocol. In the second and the third experiments, such fatiguing protocol was applied. Results from the second study suggested that participants regardless of age walked faster after fatigue when concurrently responding to a working memory test. Moreover, young adults showed a greater and faster mediolateral center of mass sway after fatigue; whereas older adults demonstrated a shorter reaction time from pre- to post-fatigue while maintaining a similar body sway during walking. The results from the third study followed the same trend, in which significantly deteriorated balance control during obstacle-crossing was only found in young adults but not in older adults. Taken together, healthy older adults might have a better adaptation to a fatigued status induced by a repetitive sit-to-stand protocol. In the last study, the connection between findings from laboratory experiments and real-life scenarios was explored through examining the effect of fatigue in three older workers following a day-long of occupational activities. Our results showed that some changes observed after work were in line with that observed in the laboratory, but some were opposite or demonstrated unique fatigue adaptations, such as increased body sway, which was not identified when the results were pooled together. Although conclusive interpretation could not be made given the descriptive nature of the study, it highlights the necessity of subgroup analysis and targets the future recruitment on fatigue-prone population. This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material.