Adaptation to postural perturbations under fatigue produces persistent changes in neuromuscular coordination
- 1University of Verona
Abstract
Postural control depends on the ability to adapt motor responses to changing environmental and physiological conditions. Neuromuscular fatigue (NMF) is known to alter balance and muscle activation patterns, yet its effects on motor adaptation during whole-body postural tasks and on the persistence of learned strategies remain unclear. This study investigated whether localized NMF of the ankle dorsiflexors influences adaptation to a novel postural perturbation task and whether learning under fatigue induces persistent changes during subsequent re-exposure. Twenty-five healthy young adults were assigned to either a fatigue or no-fatigue group and completed two experimental sessions separated by 48-72 h allowing recovery from acute fatigue for fatigued group. Participants adapted to repeated mechanical perturbations while standing upright, while ground reaction forces and electromyographic activity of lower-limb muscles were recorded. NMF did not impair overall adaptation performance, as both groups exhibited similar reductions in performance error across practice. However, participants exposed to fatigue exhibited altered postural recovery dynamics, characterized by a reduced return toward the initial posture following perturbation release. These differences persisted during re-exposure on the subsequent day, despite the absence of acute fatigue. In parallel, NMF modified muscle activation and coactivation patterns involving both fatigued and non-fatigued muscles, several of which were retained during re-exposure. These findings indicate that the central nervous system preserves successful adaptation to postural perturbations under fatigue by reorganizing neuromuscular coordination and stabilization strategies. Learning under fatigue therefore influences not only immediate motor execution, but also shapes the next-session persistence of postural control strategies.
Related
- Brain structure–function decoupling and neuromuscular coordination during gait and sit-to-stand in healthy aging
- Repeated visual adaptation induces persistent behavioral and neural biases in body size perception
- Cultivar-specific coordination of root plasticity and root antioxidant defense underlies drought adaptation in alfalfa
- Conservation agriculture buffers persistent carbon loss under warming by microbial adaptation
- Quantifying the Effect of Trunk Postural Control on Reaching with Progressive Shoulder Abduction Loading in Hemiparetic Stroke
BibTeX
@misc{nardon2026adaptation,
title = {{Adaptation to postural perturbations under fatigue produces persistent changes in neuromuscular coordination}},
author = {M. Nardon and C. Alessandro and T. Singh and M. Bertucco},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.64898/2026.06.25.734469},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.25.734469v2},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Adaptation to postural perturbations under fatigue produces persistent changes in neuromuscular coordination
AU - M. Nardon
AU - C. Alessandro
AU - T. Singh
AU - M. Bertucco
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/25
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.06.25.734469
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.25.734469v2
AB - Postural control depends on the ability to adapt motor responses to changing environmental and physiological conditions. Neuromuscular fatigue (NMF) is known to alter balance and muscle activation patterns, yet its effects on motor adaptation during whole-body postural tasks and on the persistence of learned strategies remain unclear. This study investigated whether localized NMF of the ankle dorsiflexors influences adaptation to a novel postural perturbation task and whether learning under fatigue induces persistent changes during subsequent re-exposure. Twenty-five healthy young adults were assigned to either a fatigue or no-fatigue group and completed two experimental sessions separated by 48-72 h allowing recovery from acute fatigue for fatigued group. Participants adapted to repeated mechanical perturbations while standing upright, while ground reaction forces and electromyographic activity of lower-limb muscles were recorded. NMF did not impair overall adaptation performance, as both groups exhibited similar reductions in performance error across practice. However, participants exposed to fatigue exhibited altered postural recovery dynamics, characterized by a reduced return toward the initial posture following perturbation release. These differences persisted during re-exposure on the subsequent day, despite the absence of acute fatigue. In parallel, NMF modified muscle activation and coactivation patterns involving both fatigued and non-fatigued muscles, several of which were retained during re-exposure. These findings indicate that the central nervous system preserves successful adaptation to postural perturbations under fatigue by reorganizing neuromuscular coordination and stabilization strategies. Learning under fatigue therefore influences not only immediate motor execution, but also shapes the next-session persistence of postural control strategies.
ER -