Difference in the recruitment of intrinsic foot muscles in the elderly under static and dynamic postural conditions.

Background: The effect of foot, especially intrinsic muscles, on postural control and its related mechanisms remain unclear due to the complex structure. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the activation of intrinsic foot muscles in the elderly under static and dynamic postural tasks. Methods: Twenty-one elderly participants were included to perform different postural tests (sensory organization test (SOT), motor control test (MCT), limit of stability test (LOS), and unilateral stance test) by a NeuroCom Balance Manager System. The participants were instructed to maintain postural stability under conditions with combined different sensory inputs (vision, vestibular, and proprioception) in SOT as well as conditions with translation disturbance in MCT, and to perform an active weight-shifting tasks in LOS. During these tasks, muscle activation were simultaneously acquired from intrinsic foot muscles (abductor halluces (AbH) and flexor digitorum brevis (FDB)) and ankle muscles (anterior tibialis, medial head of gastrocnemius, lateral head of gastrocnemius, and peroneus longus). The root-mean-square amplitude of these muscles in postural tasks was calculated and normalized with the EMG activity in unilateral stance task. Results: The activation of intrinsic foot muscles significantly differed among different SOT tasks ( Conclusion: Intrinsic foot muscles play a complementary role to regulate postural stability when disturbances occur. In addition, the recruitment magnitude of intrinsic foot muscles is positively correlated with the limit of stability, indicating their contribution to increasing the limits of stability in the elderly.