Cortico-muscular Information Transfer Based on fNIRS and sEMG During Gait Walking in the Elderly and Young Adults

Decreased gait ability occurs in the aging process, increasing the risk of falls and reducing quality of life. Gait control relies on cortical and muscle activation and cortico-muscular information transmission, but the impact of aging on cortical and muscle information transmission during gait is currently unclear. This study recruited 12 young adults and 12 elderly subjects, and simultaneously acquired cortical hemodynamic oxyhemoglobin concentration (HbO) and gastrocnemius surface electromyography (sEMG) information during walking, and based on transfer entropy (TE) to estimate cortico-muscular information transfer. The results showed that the inter-cortical information transmission in the young group was significantly stronger than that in the elderly (p<0.05). In addition, the intensity of information transfer between the elderly cortico-muscular (LG) is smaller than young subjects (PFC/M1-Left LG: p<0.01; PFC/M1-Right LG: p<0.05), while the cortico-muscular (MG) is on the contrary (PFC/M1-Left MG: p<0.05; PFC/M1-Right MG: p<0.05). This study deepens the understanding of cortical muscle gait control during aging, provides scientific evidence for revealing the mechanism of movement disorders in the elderly, and develops specific balance training and rehabilitation programs.