The Effect of Quadriceps Weakness in Older Adults on Lower Extremity Muscle Function During Gait
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Date
2015-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Osteoarthritis is a painful condition that generally causes patients to experience weak quadriceps, abnormal gait kinematics, and difficulty completing daily movements. The quadriceps muscles are a vital muscle group in the lower extremities that brake the body’s center of mass and pro- vide vertical support during activities such as walking. Previous research investigated simulated muscle compensations for quadriceps weakness in a healthy young adult population; however, no research has analyzed muscle compensations for weak quadriceps in older subjects during gait. The project determined estimated muscle compensations for simulated quadriceps weak- ness, based on changes in muscle forces and contributions to support and progression, in older healthy adults. Quadriceps weakness was simulated using the dynamic computer simulation software OpenSim, on 10 healthy older adults. The muscles that increased their peak force the most in older adults during the simulated quadriceps weakness were the medial gastrocnemius and gluteus maximus. The medial gastrocnemius and gluteus maximus increased contribution to both support and progression while the gluteus medius and soleus both increased contributions to progression. The gluteus maximus increased its peak force and contributions to support and pro- gression in both the younger and older adults with simulated quadriceps weakness. The soleus did not compensate for quadriceps weakness in older adults as much as in young adults. The me- dial gastrocnemius was found to be more of a primary compensator for older adults but not young adults.
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Keywords
Quadriceps, Older Adult Gait, Simulated Quadriceps Weakness, Contributions to support and progression during gait