Older adults produce joint moments less economically than young adults

2026/01/17 by Brooke Alanis, Negin Fallah, Ahan Mistry +1 · 1 voice
Engineering · Health Professions · Neuroscience · #Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention #Motor Control and Adaptation #Muscle activation and electromyography studies

paper · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01022.2025

openalex publication_date 2026/01/17 · openalex created_date 2026/01/19 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The mechanisms governing the age-related decline in walking economy are elusive. Here, we demonstrate that older adults produce lower-limb joint moment profiles less economically than young adults. Therefore, less economical muscle-tendon unit force production in older versus young adults likely contributes to their greater metabolic energy expenditure during walking.

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