Biomechanics

Older adults often demonstrate greater co-contraction and motor errors than young adults in response to motor perturbations. We demonstrated that older adults reduced their motor errors more than young adults with brief perturbations during recumbent stepping while maintaining greater muscle co-contraction. In doing so, older adults largely used one muscle pair to drive the stepper, tibialis anterior and soleus, while young adults used all muscles. These two muscles are crucial for maintaining upright balance.

We demonstrate that seated locomotor perturbations produce differential theta-band responses in the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor areas, suggesting that tuning perturbation parameters can potentially modify electrocortical responses.

This project involved adapting a Desk Cycle to incorporate a controllable resistance mechanism and a tachometer, both interfaced with a Raspberry Pi Zero W using I2C and PWM protocols. The customized device enables wireless communication of exercise data to Simulink for analysis. The integration of mechanical design, control systems, and electronic communication demonstrates innovative solutions to enhance interactive locomotion exercises, aiming to improve neuromuscular engagement and potentially benefit balance and fall-risk assessment in elderly populations.