Age And Motor Performance: An Analysis Of Biomechanical Capacities Across The Lifespan

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Department

Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences Department

Conference Title

American College of Sports Medicine - Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise conference

Organization

American College of Sports Medicine

Location

Virtual

Date of Presentation

8-1-2021

Journal Publication

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

ISSN

0195-9131

DOI

10.1249/01.mss.0000760584.97676.b6

Volume

53

Issue

8S

First Page

124

Abstract

Advancing age associates with losses in strength and motor function. As technology enables more precise motor assessment, it is important to update our understanding of the relationship between age and performance. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of age on different biomechanical capacities of upper limb motions. METHODS: We tested 183 males and 48 females (ages 7-79) on a Proteus device. They performed 9,289 total sets of 9.6 ± 3.2 repetitions across 10 exercises: internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) at 0° shoulder abduction, single-handed biceps curl (BC1), triceps extension (TE1), chest press (CP1), and horizontal row (HR1), and double-handed biceps curl (BC2), triceps extension (TE2), chest press (CP2), and horizontal row (HR2). We measured power, acceleration, velocity, deceleration, and consistency of motion in serial repetitions. We stratified subjects into age groups by decade and performed multivariate tests to evaluate categorical differences by age and sex. RESULTS: Among men, composite scores across all exercises found peak performance in the 20-29 yr group for power, acceleration, velocity, and deceleration (p < 0.005). Consistency was highest in the 50-59 yr group; categorical comparisons to subjects <30 yr were significant (p < 0.001). Precise estimates of age revealed highest power to occur between the ages of 16-27 (p < 0.001), acceleration from 20-26 (p < 0.001), velocity from 17-26 (p < 0.001), deceleration from 20-28 (p < 0.001), and consistency from 30-72 (p < 0.001). Among women, peak power, velocity, and deceleration occurred in the 20-29 yr group. Acceleration improved through 30-39 yr, followed by a steep decline (p < 0.001). Consistency improved through 50-59 yr; differences compared to subjects <30 yr and > 70 yr were significant (p < 0.05). Across both sexes, acceleration was unaffected by age in ER (p = 0.409), BC2 (p = 0.133), TE1 (p = 0.164), TE2 (p = 0.867), and CP1 (p = 0.390), and deceleration was unaffected in ER (p = 0.522), BC2 (p = 0.107), HR1 (p = 0.658), HR2 (p = 0.200), and CP1 (p = 0.087). CONCLUSIONS: Unique features of motor decline may arise at different ages, and are likely to differ between men and women. In our sample, men between the ages of 16-28 exhibited peak performance in all mechanical domains except consistency while women exhibited lower peaks but more gradual decline.

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