Whole body frontal plane mechanics across walking, running, and sprinting in young and older adults.
This study investigated the whole body frontal plane mechanics among young (26 ± 6 years), early old (61 ± 5 years), and old (78 ± 4 years) adults during walking, running, and sprinting. The age-groups had similar walking (1.6 m/s) and running (4.0 m/s) speeds, but different maximal sprinting speed (young 9.3 m/s, early old 7.9 m/s, and old 6.6 m/s). Surprisingly, although the old group exerted much lower vertical ground reaction force during running and sprinting, the hip frontal plane moment did not differ between the age-groups. Kinematic analysis demonstrated increased hip adduction and pelvis drop, as well as reduced trunk lateral flexion among old adults, especially during sprinting. These alterations in the hip and pelvis motions may reflect insufficient force production of hip abductors to stabilize the pelvis during single-limb support, while limited trunk lateral flexion may enhance control of the mediolateral balance. On the other hand, larger trunk side-to-side movement among the young and early old adults may provide a mechanism to prevent the increase of the hip frontal moment despite greater vertical ground reaction force. This, in turn, can assist hip abductors to maintain stability of the pelvis during sprinting while allowing powerful force generation by a large adductor muscle group.
Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
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JP
Kulmala
Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
M T
MT
Korhonen
Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, Finland.
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S
Kuitunen
Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
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H
Suominen
Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
A
A
Heinonen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Jyväskylä, Finland.
A
A
Mikkola
Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
J
J
Avela
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D010388:Pelvis; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D060726:Torso; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Aging; frontal plane mechanics; gait; kinematics; kinetics; running; sprinting; walking