The Influence of Fatigue on Trunk Motor Control and Brain Activity

NCT03576391 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2016/0951
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 22
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims at examining the influence of both physically and cognitively induced fatigue on trunk motor control on the one hand and brain activity related to movement preparation on the other hand, in healthy adult subjects. Furthermore, a comparison between the effects of both types of fatigue will be made. For this purpose a motor control task will be performed and compared before and after 3 specific interventions: i.e. a control intervention, a physical task and a cognitive task. Muscle and brain activity will be measured during each motor control task. It is hypothesised that motor control will not be altered after a control task, i.e. seated rest for 45 minutes. With regards to the physical fatigue condition, it is expected that trunk muscles will contract earlier after this task than before due to altered motor control. Cognitive fatigue is hypothesised to have similar underlying processes as physical fatigue, thus a similar earlier muscle contraction is also expected after cognitive fatigue. Lastly, as both types of fatigue are expected to induce a similar effect on motor control no significant differences between cognitive and physical fatigue are hypothesised. However, it is possible that the magnitude of this effect differs between types of fatigue, i.e. that 1 of both types has a bigger effect on motor control than the other. With regards to brain activity in preparation of a motor control task similar hypotheses are formulated: no effect of the control task on brain activity, earlier and possibly increased brain activity after both fatiguing tasks, and no differences between both types of fatigue besides a possible difference in magnitude of effect.

Conditions

Muscle Fatigue; Mental Fatigue; Event-related Potentials

Keywords

Sensorimotor control; Feedforward; Physical Fatigue; Cognitive Fatigue; Event-related potentials

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Trunk muscle EMG latency

  Latency of the activation onset of the trunk muscles on EMG compared to prime mover onset (Anterior Deltoid) in milliseconds.

  2 hours

• Contingent Negative Variation

  A cortical EEG-potential that reflects movement preparation in the timeframe between a warning cue and a go cue in Volt.

  2 hours

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Visual Analogue Scale for Fatigue

  10 seconds for every measurement

• Rating of Perceived Exertion/Borg

  5 seconds for every measurement

• Checklist Individual Strength

  5 minutes at the beginning of each test day

• Profile Of Mood States-Short Form

  5 minutes at the beginning of each test day

• International Physical Activities Questionnaire

  15 minutes at the beginning of each test day

Study Arms (3)

Control condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Control condition to assess whether the repetition of a RAM task without fatiguing task in between 2 repetitions affects trunk motor control and cortical movement preparation.

Behavioral: Control condition; Behavioral: Rapid Arm Movements

Physical Fatigue condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Fatigue condition to assess whether a physical fatiguing task in between 2 RAM tasks affects trunk motor control and cortical movement preparation for the 2nd RAM.

Behavioral: Rapid Arm Movements; Behavioral: Physical fatigue condition

Cognitive Fatigue condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Fatigue condition to assess whether a cognitive fatiguing task in between 2 RAM tasks affects trunk motor control and cortical movement preparation for the 2nd RAM.

Behavioral: Rapid Arm Movements; Behavioral: Cognitive fatigue condition

Interventions

Control condition BEHAVIORAL

45 minute rest while seated. Watching an animated movie, sleeping was not allowed.

Control condition

Rapid Arm Movements BEHAVIORAL

2 blocks of 80 trials of RAM in either a forward (n = 40) or backward (n = 40) shoulder flexion direction and back to neutral as fast as possible, with maintaining extension in the elbow. Visual cues (arrows) indicated the movement direction.

Cognitive Fatigue condition; Control condition; Physical Fatigue condition

Physical fatigue condition BEHAVIORAL

40 minutes rest while seated followed by static endurance tasks, i.e. modified Biering-Sörensen task and static abdominal curl task.

Physical Fatigue condition

Cognitive fatigue condition BEHAVIORAL

45 minutes of a cognitively fatiguing condition consisting of a modified incongruent Stroop color-word task.

Cognitive Fatigue condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 45 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Healthy adult subjects.

You may not qualify if:

• People with a history of pain or current pain
• severe pathologies
• traumata
• cardiorespiratory disorders
• neurological disorders
• vestibular disorders
• endocrinologic disorders
• psychiatric and cognitive disorders
• colour blindness
• sleeping disorders
• psychological disorders or major depressions
• major surgery to the spine or upper limbs
• clinically relevant malalignments and deformities
• malignancies
• substance abuse of alcohol or drugs

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Ghent: lead

Study Sites (1)

Vakgroep REVAKI (Ghent University - Ghent University Hospital)

Ghent, 9000, Belgium

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Mental Fatigue

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Fatigue; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Lieven Danneels, PT, PhD

  University Ghent

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: The researcher that will perform the EMG-analysis, i.e. onset determination of the various muscles that were measured, will be blinded for participant, condition and muscle during that process.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Each participant will perform all 3 experimental conditions spread out over 2 test days. At test day 1 the control condition is performed. Test day 2 follows at least 5 days after the 1st one in order to make sure participants are physically and mentally recovered as the protocol at test day 1 might induce some physical or mental fatigue. On test day 2 the other 2 conditions are tested in a randomised order: either first the physical fatigue condition, followed by the cognitive fatigue condition or vice versa.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 11, 2018
• First Posted: July 3, 2018
• Study Start: September 15, 2016
• Primary Completion: February 24, 2018
• Study Completion: February 24, 2018
• Last Updated: December 18, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

BE (1)