Effect of lower limb muscle fatigue on anticipatory postural adjustments associated with bilateral-forward reach in the unipedal dominant and non-dominant stance

Voluntary arm movements are preceded by dynamical and electromyographical (EMG) phenomena in “postural segments” (i.e. body segments not directly involved in the voluntary movement) called “anticipatory postural adjustments” (APA). The present study examined how the central nervous system organizes APA under fatigued state of postural musculature elicited by series of high-level isometric contractions (HIC), i.e. corresponding to 60% of maximal voluntary contraction. Subjects (N = 14) purposely performed series of bilateral-forward reach task (BFR) under unipodal stance (dominant and non-dominant) before (“no fatigue” condition, NF) and after (“fatigue” condition, F) a procedure designed to obtain major fatigue in hamstrings. Centre-of-gravity acceleration, centre-of-pressure displacement, and electrical activity of trunk and leg muscles were recorded and quantified within a time-window typical of APA. Results showed that there was no significant effect of fatigue on the level of muscle excitation and APA onset in any of the postural muscles recorded. Similarly, no change in APA onset could be detected from the biomechanical traces. In contrast, results showed that the amplitude of anticipatory centre-of-pressure displacement and centre-of-gravity acceleration reached lower value in F than in NF. Similar results were obtained whether dominant or non-dominant leg was considered. The changes in biomechanical APA features could not be ascribed to a different focal movement performance (maximal BFR velocity and acceleration) between F and NF. These results suggest that, when fatigue is induced by HIC, the capacity of the central nervous system to adapt APA programming to the fatigued state of the postural muscle system might be altered.