EFFECTS OF A BRISK 6-MINUTE WALK ON NON-LOCAL PERFORMANCE FATIGUE: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Abstract

Kaden Buford, Lacey Harper, Melanie Antonio, William Reed, Valentina Taddia, Breanna McDonald, Micah Poisal, Esther Steingold, Garrett Hester. Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA. BACKGROUND: Non-local fatigue can be described as performance decrements occurring for a muscle group that was not directly involved in the fatiguing activity that preceded. Little evidence exists on non-local fatigue derived from activities mimicking acts of daily living. Determining whether non-local fatigue exist following brisk walking is worthwhile, and rate of torque development (RTD) is a candidate parameter that might possess increased susceptibility. The purpose of our ongoing study is to determine the responses, if any, for maximal and rapid torque production of the upper body after brisk walking in young and middle-aged females. Here, we report on preliminary findings based on participants completed to date. METHODS: Four untrained, females (31.5 ± 17.7 yrs) completed a testing visit 3-7 days following a familiarization session. Subjects completed handgrip testing before and 3, 9, and 11 minutes after a 6-min brisk walking task. The instructions for the walking task were to “cover as much distance as possible”. Subjects were instructed to squeeze the handgrip dynamometer as “hard and fast as possible”. PT, and peak, early (0-50 ms), and late (0-200 ms) RTD were calculated from the torque-time curve. Friedman’s test and relative changes were computed to examine responses across time. RESULTS: PT (-2%; p = 0.960) nor any RTD measures (p \u3e 0.05; -5% ─ +8.5% were reduced after brisk walking. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest that brisk walking does not cause non-local fatigue for the upper body, but interpretation is limited due to our small sample size which resulted in underpowered analyses. As our sample size increases and age-related comparisons are feasible, a primary aim is to determine if these preliminary findings remain consistent in females 45-60 yrs of age since brisk walking may be more demanding in this age group