Aging and Variability of Voluntary Contractions

Older adults exhibit greater motor variability, which impairs their accuracy and function, compared with young adults. Low-intensity training that emphasizes muscle coordination reduces variability in older adults. Furthermore, a low amount of visual feedback minimizes age-associated differences in variability. We hypothesize that an intervention that combines muscle coordination and reduced visual feedback would be advantageous to improve motor control in older adults.

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