Peikuang Chao

Children's response to changes in cycling cadence: muscle coordination

The purpose of this study was to explore how the developing neuromotor system accommodates changes in task. The contribution of age and cadence to muscle activation changes were investigated. Age can be a factor of change in muscle activation patterns or motor performance in children (Moritani, Oddsson, & Astrand's study, 1989, Badan, Hauert & Mounoud, 2000). Cadence can affect cyclists' muscle activation patterns (EMG) in cycling (Ex. Neptune & Herzog, 2000). Were the cadence effects also shown in children pedaling? Could the younger children's muscle activation change with cadence as the older children or adults?

Three groups were:

• Children under 7
• Children 7 and older
• Adults

Results:

1. There are significant cadence and age effects on cycling performance:
   
2. Muscle activity (EMG onsets) shift with increasing cadence in older children and adults but not in younger children (e.g. blue: 11 year old |r|=0.91; pink: 6 year old |r|=0.10 ):
   

References:

Badan M. Hauert CA. Mounoud P.   (2000).   Sequential pointing in children and adults.   Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,   75 , 43-69.

Moritani T. Oddsson L. Thorstensson A. Astrand PO. (1989).   Neural and biomechanical differences between men and young boys during a variety of motor tasks.   Acta Physiologica Scandinavica,   137 , 347-355.

Neptune RR. Herzog W. (2000).   Adaptation of muscle coordination to altered task mechanics during steady-state cycling.   Journal of Biomechanics,   33(2) , 165-72.

Neptune RR. Kautz S. Hull ML. (1997). The effect of pedaling rate on coordination in cycling. Journal of Biomechanics,   30(10) , 1051-1058.