applied sciences Article Age-Related Differences in Muscle Synergy Organization during Step Ascent at Different Heights and Directions Remco J. Baggen 1,2 , Jaap H. van Dieën 2 , Evelien Van Roie 1 , Sabine M. Verschueren 3, Georgios Giarmatzis 4, Christophe Delecluse 1 and Nadia Dominici 2,* 1 Department of Movement Sciences, Physical Activity, Sports and Health Research Group, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium 2 Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam & Amsterdam Movement Sciences, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3 Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Research Group for Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium 4 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Visualization & Virtual Reality Group, University of Patras, 26504 Rio Achaia, Greece * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +31-20-59-88-591 Received: 30 January 2020; Accepted: 5 March 2020; Published: 14 March 2020 Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the underlying age-related differences in dynamic motor control during different step ascent conditions using muscle synergy analysis. Eleven older women (67.0 y 2.5) and ten young women (22.5 y 1.6) performed stepping in forward and lateral directions ± ± at step heights of 10, 20 and 30 cm. Surface electromyography was obtained from 10 lower limb and torso muscles. Non-negative matrix factorization was used to identify sets of (n) synergies across age groups and stepping conditions. In addition, variance accounted for (VAF) by the detected number of synergies was compared to assess complexity of motor control. Finally, correlation coefficients of muscle weightings and between-subject variability of the temporal activation patterns were calculated and compared between age groups and stepping conditions.