1. The Motor-Learning Process of Older Adults in Eccentric Bicycle Ergometer Training
- Author
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Veikko Vihko, Jarno Purtsi, Anna Kankaanpää, and Eino Havas
- Subjects
Male ,Aging ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Ergometry ,education ,Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation ,Motor Activity ,Physical medicine and rehabilitation ,Intervention (counseling) ,medicine ,Humans ,Learning ,Eccentric ,Motor skill ,Aged ,Analysis of Variance ,business.industry ,Rehabilitation ,Age Factors ,Training (meteorology) ,Motor control ,Middle Aged ,Bicycling ,Motor Skills ,Physical therapy ,Regression Analysis ,Female ,Self Report ,Bicycle ergometer ,Analysis of variance ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,Motor learning ,business ,Gerontology - Abstract
This study describes the motor-learning process of older individuals during the course of a training intervention on a motor-driven eccentric bicycle ergometer. Seventeen women and 16 men (64 ± 6 yr) took part in a 10-wk training program. Uniformity of force production and consistency of timing were used to describe their motor performance. The results suggested that participants improved the coefficient of variation of peak force during the intervention (measured at the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and the 18th training sessions). They reached a fairly constant level of motor performance around the 12th training session (5 wk). Age and sex affected improvements in the early phases of the learning process to an extent, but the differences diminished by the end of the intervention. These results suggest that the force control of continuous eccentric muscle contractions improves as a result of training in older adults.
- Published
- 2012