TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gebel, Arnd
A1  - Lehmann, Tim
A1  - Granacher, Urs
T1  - Balance task difficulty affects postural sway and cortical activity in healthy adolescents
JF  - Experimental brain research
N2  - Electroencephalographic (EEG) research indicates changes in adults' low frequency bands of frontoparietal brain areas executing different balance tasks with increasing postural demands. However, this issue is unsolved for adolescents when performing the same balance task with increasing difficulty. Therefore, we examined the effects of a progressively increasing balance task difficulty on balance performance and brain activity in adolescents. Thirteen healthy adolescents aged 16-17 year performed tests in bipedal upright stance on a balance board with six progressively increasing levels of task difficulty. Postural sway and cortical activity were recorded simultaneously using a pressure sensitive measuring system and EEG. The power spectrum was analyzed for theta (4-7 Hz) and alpha-2 (10-12 Hz) frequency bands in pre-defined frontal, central, and parietal clusters of electrocortical sources. Repeated measures analysis of variance (rmANOVA) showed a significant main effect of task difficulty for postural sway (p < 0.001; d = 6.36). Concomitantly, the power spectrum changed in frontal, bilateral central, and bilateral parietal clusters. RmANOVAs revealed significant main effects of task difficulty for theta band power in the frontal (p < 0.001, d = 1.80) and both central clusters (left: p < 0.001, d = 1.49; right: p < 0.001, d = 1.42) as well as for alpha-2 band power in both parietal clusters (left: p < 0.001, d = 1.39; right: p < 0.001, d = 1.05) and in the central right cluster (p = 0.005, d = 0.92). Increases in theta band power (frontal, central) and decreases in alpha-2 power (central, parietal) with increasing balance task difficulty may reflect increased attentional processes and/or error monitoring as well as increased sensory information processing due to increasing postural demands. In general, our findings are mostly in agreement with studies conducted in adults. Similar to adult studies, our data with adolescents indicated the involvement of frontoparietal brain areas in the regulation of postural control. In addition, we detected that activity of selected brain areas (e.g., bilateral central) changed with increasing postural demands.
KW  - balance
KW  - postural control
KW  - EEG
KW  - Theta
KW  - Alpha-2
KW  - ICA
KW  - youth
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05810-1
SN  - 0014-4819
SN  - 1432-1106
VL  - 238
IS  - 5
SP  - 1323
EP  - 1333
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rowley, K. Michael
A1  - Engel, Tilman
A1  - Kulig, Kornelia
T1  - Trunk and hip muscle activity during the Balance-Dexterity task in persons with and without recurrent low back pain
JF  - Journal of electromyography and kinesiology
N2  - Coordination of the trunk and hips is crucial for successful dynamic balance in many activities of daily living. Persons with recurrent low back pain (rLBP), both while symptomatic and during periods of symptom remission, exhibit dysfunctional muscle activation patterns and coordination of these joints. In a novel dynamic balance task where persons in remission from rLBP exhibit dissociated trunk motion, it is unknown how trunk and hip musculature are coordinated. Activation of hip and trunk muscles were acquired from nineteen persons with and without rLBP during the Balance-Dexterity Task, which involves balancing on one limb while compressing an unstable spring with the other. There were no between-group differences in activation amplitude for any muscle groups tested. In back-healthy control participants, hip and trunk muscle activation amplitudes increased proportionally in response to the added instability of the spring (R = 0.837, p < 0.001). Increases in muscle activation amplitudes in the group in remission from rLBP were not proportional (R = 0.113, p = 0.655). Instead, hip muscle activation in this group was associated with task performance, i.e. dexterous control of the spring (R = 0.676, p = 0.002). These findings highlight atypical coordination of hip and trunk musculature potentially related to task demands in persons with rLBP even during remission from pain.
KW  - balance
KW  - low back pain
KW  - trunk and hip coordination
KW  - lumbopelvic
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2019.102378
SN  - 1050-6411
SN  - 1873-5711
VL  - 50
PB  - Elsevier Science
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -