Towards an improved understanding of aging: Quantifying changes in movement during healthy aging using an integrated biomechanical approach

背景技术背景：随着年龄的增长，肌肉力量，平衡和活动能力下降，导致功能独立性丧失，无法继续独立生活。随着加拿大人口的老龄化，由于住院、家庭护理和长期护理的需求增加，我们的经济和医疗保健系统将承受惊人的成本。了解与年龄相关的人体功能，运动和平衡变化比以往任何时候都更加重要。 生物力学信号（即，神经肌肉、运动学或平衡信号）提供了对运动是如何产生和控制的以及与福尔斯、疼痛和损伤有关的洞察。在完成安静站立等任务时，这些信号的测量值在年轻人和老年人之间存在差异。然而，这些研究往往集中在一个生物力学方面的运动或几个方面独立;整合方面将提供进一步的洞察组织和控制的运动与健康老龄化的变化。这些变化将使用离散的意志任务（例如，举物、从椅子上站立），因为这些任务在日常生活中很常见，并且与老年人的跌倒风险有关。目的：本研究将探讨与年龄相关的变化，在运动结构，组织和变异性离散意志任务，使用一个综合的生物力学方法。这些任务中与运动相关的变化将在以下方面进行检查：1）运动策略，2）生物力学信号之间的关系，以及3）这些信号的可变性之间的关系。方法：没有诊断出影响平衡或移动性的疾病的年轻人和老年人将执行离散的意志任务，而全身运动，地面反作用力和肌肉激活分别使用运动捕捉，测力板和肌电图测量。运动结构和组织的各个方面将进行检查，使用主成分分析;生物力学信号的互相关;和生物力学信号的时变变异性的互相关。然后将探讨结果之间的关系以及与年龄相关的结果差异。影响：所提出的综合生物力学方法将为健康老龄化过程中人体功能下降的标志物提供深入了解，并为老龄化过程的机械模型奠定基础。这样的模型将探索与年龄相关的运动结构，组织和变异性及其潜在机制的变化，提高我们对健康老龄化的理解。该方案还将有助于促进功能和长寿的战略，使老年人能够在日常生活中保持独立。随着加拿大人口的老龄化，这项研究所产生的知识和策略比以往任何时候都更加重要，以减少老年人护理的巨大社会成本，并帮助老年人保持独立和生活质量。

BACKGROUND: Muscle strength, balance, and mobility decline with aging, contributing to loss of functional independence and inability to continue living independently. As the Canadian population ages, staggering costs will be imposed on our economy and health care system, as the need for hospitalization, in-home care, and long-term care increases. Understanding age-related changes in human function, movement, and balance is more crucial than ever before. Biomechanical signals (i.e., neuromuscular, kinematic, or balance signals) provide insight into how movement is produced and controlled, and relate to falls, pain, and injury. Measures from these signals differ between younger and older adults during tasks such as quiet standing. However, these studies often focus on one biomechanical aspect of movement or several aspects independently; integrating aspects would provide further insight into changes in the organization and control of movement with healthy aging. These changes will be explored using discrete volitional tasks (e.g., lifting, standing from a chair), as these tasks are common in everyday life and relate to fall risk in older adults. OBJECTIVES: This research will explore age-related changes in movement structure, organization, and variability during discrete volitional tasks, using an integrated biomechanical approach. Age-related changes in these tasks will be examined in terms of 1) movement strategies, 2) relationships between biomechanical signals, and 3) relationships in the variability of these signals. METHODS: Younger and older adults with no diagnosed conditions affecting balance or mobility will perform discrete volitional tasks while whole-body motion, ground reaction forces, and muscle activation are measured using motion capture, force plates, and electromyography, respectively. Various aspects of movement structure and organization will be examined, using principal component analysis; cross-correlation of biomechanical signals; and cross-correlation of time-varying variability of biomechanical signals. Relationships between outcomes, and age-related differences in outcomes, will then be explored. IMPACT: The proposed integrated biomechanical approach will provide insight into markers of declining human function during healthy aging, as well as a foundation for a mechanistic model of the aging process. Such a model will explore age-related changes in movement structure, organization, and variability and their underlying mechanisms, improving our understanding of healthy aging. This program will also contribute to strategies to promote function and longevity, which will enable older adults to maintain independence in everyday life. With our aging Canadian population, the knowledge and strategies that will be generated from this research are more crucial than ever before, to reduce the enormous societal costs of older adult care, and to help older adults maintain independence and quality of life.