Age-related modifications of muscle synergies during daily-living tasks: A scoping review
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with changes in neuromuscular control that can lead to difficulties in performing daily living tasks. Muscle synergy analysis allows the assessment of neuromuscular control strategies and functional deficits. However, the age-related changes of muscle synergies during functional tasks are scattered throughout the literature. This review aimed to synthesize the existing literature on muscle synergies in elderly people during daily-living tasks and examine how they differ from those exhibited by young adults. METHODS: The Medline, CINAHL and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies were included if they focused on muscle synergies in elderly people during walking, sit-to-stand or stair ascent, and if muscle synergies were obtained by a matrix factorization algorithm. FINDINGS: Seventeen studies were included after the screening process. The muscle synergies of 295 elderly people and 182 young adults were reported, including 5 to 16 muscles per leg, or leg and trunk. Results suggest that: 1) elderly people and young adults retain similar muscle synergies' number, 2) elderly people have higher muscles weighting during walking, and 3) an increased inter and intra-subject temporal activation variability during specific tasks (i.e., walking and stair ascent, respectively) was reported in elderly people compared to young adults. INTERPRETATION: This review gives a comprehensive understanding of age-related changes in neuromuscular control during daily living tasks. Our findings suggested that although the number of synergies remains similar, metrics such as spatial and temporal structures of synergies are more suitable to identify neuromuscular control deficits between young adults and elderly people.
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BibTeX
@article{dussaultpicard2026agerelated,
title = {{Age-related modifications of muscle synergies during daily-living tasks: A scoping review}},
author = {Cloé Dussault-Picard and Sara Havashinezhadian and Nicolas A Turpin and Florent Moissenet and Katia Turcot and Yosra Cherni},
journal = {Clinical Biomechanics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2024.106207},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05844940v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Age-related modifications of muscle synergies during daily-living tasks: A scoping review
AU - Cloé Dussault-Picard
AU - Sara Havashinezhadian
AU - Nicolas A Turpin
AU - Florent Moissenet
AU - Katia Turcot
AU - Yosra Cherni
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Clinical Biomechanics
DO - 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2024.106207
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05844940v1
AB - BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with changes in neuromuscular control that can lead to difficulties in performing daily living tasks. Muscle synergy analysis allows the assessment of neuromuscular control strategies and functional deficits. However, the age-related changes of muscle synergies during functional tasks are scattered throughout the literature. This review aimed to synthesize the existing literature on muscle synergies in elderly people during daily-living tasks and examine how they differ from those exhibited by young adults. METHODS: The Medline, CINAHL and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies were included if they focused on muscle synergies in elderly people during walking, sit-to-stand or stair ascent, and if muscle synergies were obtained by a matrix factorization algorithm. FINDINGS: Seventeen studies were included after the screening process. The muscle synergies of 295 elderly people and 182 young adults were reported, including 5 to 16 muscles per leg, or leg and trunk. Results suggest that: 1) elderly people and young adults retain similar muscle synergies' number, 2) elderly people have higher muscles weighting during walking, and 3) an increased inter and intra-subject temporal activation variability during specific tasks (i.e., walking and stair ascent, respectively) was reported in elderly people compared to young adults. INTERPRETATION: This review gives a comprehensive understanding of age-related changes in neuromuscular control during daily living tasks. Our findings suggested that although the number of synergies remains similar, metrics such as spatial and temporal structures of synergies are more suitable to identify neuromuscular control deficits between young adults and elderly people.
SN - 0268-0033
SN - 1879-1271
ER -