Biomechanical Modeling of Posture and Movement Coordination: Fatigue, Gender and Aging effects

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Repetitive motions are often accomplished during activities of daily living and can lead to fatigue. The effects of fatigue on individual muscles and joints have been well documented; we were among the firsts to describe the whole-body consequences of repetitive motion-induced fatigue, uncovering strategies that take advantage of the musculoskeletal system’s redundancy. We showed that healthy fatigue adaptations were associated with high movement variability and the recruitment of additional joints and muscles to contribute to the task as fatigue develops. These adaptations have been related to changes spanning the sensory, proprioceptive and motor systems. However, the effects of personal factors such as gender and aging on the ability to adapt to work-related fatigue is not well known, limiting the validity of mechanical models in accurately conveying the range of normal healthy fatigue adaptations patterns. Recent statistics show that women display a higher rate of reporting work-related neck/shoulder MSD. I have previously published a theoretical model based on fundamental knowledge of sensorimotor control to explain this observation; however, many elements of this model have not been identified yet. Moreover, the consistently increasing life expectancy of the Canadian population, the aging of the Canadian workforce and the increasing retirement age make it important for us to understand how aging affects one’s ability to adapt to fatigue, in both men and women. The general, long-term objective of this research program is to gain a better understanding of the biomechanics and control aspects of upper limb repetitive movements in healthy humans. This will now be addressed using the following specific objectives: 1) Measure the effects of