The Influence of Acute Back Muscle Fatigue and Fatigue Recovery on Trunk Sensorimotor Control

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate trunk repositioning sense after an acute muscle fatigue protocol and during a 30-minute recovery period.MethodsTwenty healthy participants were asked to reproduce a 20° and 30° angle in trunk extension. Participants were tested before and after a Biering-Sorensen fatigue protocol was performed. Movement time, peak angle variable error, constant error and absolute error in peak angle were calculated and compared between 4 temporal conditions in both 20° and 30° extensions.ResultsThe statistical analysis revealed a main effect of angle between 20° and 30° extension condition for variable error, absolute error, and movement time. A main effect of time was also found and was characterized by a significant increase in variable error between the prefatigue condition and the first postfatigue condition. During recovery, a significant decrease in variable error was observed between the first postfatigue condition and the 30-minute postfatigue condition, indicating that the variable mean scores were similar to initial values.ConclusionLower back muscle fatigue induced changes in trunk repositioning sense indicators immediately after the fatigue protocol. However, the observed changes did not last for more than a few minutes.