Effect of Lower Limb Muscle Fatigue on Dynamic Balance Performance in Healthy Young Adults : Role of Arm Movement

Abstract

There is evidence that balance performance deteriorates due to exercise-induced muscle fatigue. However, it is unknown if free arm movement during balance testing can compensate for, or restricted arm movement can amplify these performance degradations. Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the effects of free versus restricted arm movement on balance performance under non-fatigued and fatigued conditions. Fifty-two healthy participants (men=31, women=21; age=22.6±1.6 years) were assessed for their dynamic balance (reach distances for the Y Balance Test – Lower Quarter) under non-fatigued and fatigued (repetitive vertical bipedal box jumps until failure) conditions using two different arm positions: free (move the arms freely) and restricted (keep the arms akimbo) arm movement. Restriction of arm movement (all p < 0.001;0.001; 0.48≤ηp2≤0.79) and application of fatigue (p≤0.003; 0.16≤ηp2≤0.28) independently, but not the interaction between the two (except for the posteromedial reach direction: p=0.046; ηp 2=0.08), resulted in significantly deteriorated lower limb reach distances. These findings suggest that free arm movement and thus the use of an ‘upper body strategy’ has no compensatory effect on muscle fatigue-induced balance deteriorations.