naa a22 4500 528786008 20180924065519.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180924e20121106xx s 000 0 eng 10.3929/ethz-b-000070614 doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0048449 doi (ETHRESEARCH)oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/70614 Extreme Levels of Noise Constitute a Key Neuromuscular Deficit in the Elderly [Elektronische Daten] [Navrag B. Singh, Niklas König, Adamantios Arampatzis, Markus O. Heller, William R. Taylor] PLoS ONE Open access ethresearch Fluctuations during isometric force production tasks occur due to the inability of musculature to generate purely constant submaximal forces and are considered to be an estimation of neuromuscular noise. The human sensori-motor system regulates complex interactions between multiple afferent and efferent systems, which results in variability during functional task performance. Since muscles are the only active component of the motor system, it therefore seems reasonable that neuromuscular noise plays a key role in governing variability during both standing and walking. Seventy elderly women (including 34 fallers) performed multiple repetitions of isometric force production, quiet standing and walking tasks. No relationship between neuromuscular noise and functional task performance was observed in either the faller or the non-faller cohorts. When classified into groups with either nominal (group NOM, 25th -75th percentile) or extreme (either too high or too low, group EXT) levels of neuromuscular noise, group NOM demonstrated a clear association (r2>0.23, p<0.05) between neuromuscular noise and variability during task performance. On the other hand, group EXT demonstrated no such relationship, but also tended to walk slower, and had lower stride lengths, as well as lower isometric strength. These results suggest that neuromuscular noise is related to the quality of both static and dynamic functional task performance, but also that extreme levels of neuromuscular noise constitute a key neuromuscular deficit in the elderly. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 ethresearch Singh Navrag B. joint author König Niklas joint author Arampatzis Adamantios joint author Heller Markus O. joint author Taylor William R. joint author PLoS ONE Public Library of Science 7 (11), p. e48449 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/70614 text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository (Open access) 1 Journal Article ethresearch ETHRESEARCH 856 40 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/70614 text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository (Open access) ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Singh Navrag B. joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- König Niklas joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Arampatzis Adamantios joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Heller Markus O. joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Taylor William R. joint author ETHRESEARCH 773 0- PLoS ONE Public Library of Science 7 (11), p. e48449 1932-6203 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 ETHRESEARCH ETHRESEARCH ETHRESEARCH Journal Article Open access