Effects of Mental and Physical Fatigue Inducing Tasks on Balance and Gait Characteristics

Abstract

Fatigue may reduce human performance and increase injury risk. This study investigated the effects of mental and physical fatigue inducing tasks (MF and PF) on balance and gait characteristics of healthy young adults (n = 10; gender balanced). During quiet stance, PF led to increases in center-of-pressure mean velocity and sway area. Although MF was associated with the same trend, the differences were not statistically significant. Among gait measures, PF was associated with expected changes in mean spatiotemporal measures (shorter and faster steps). However, MF was associated with increased inter-trial variability (standard deviations) in stride and stance times, and decreased variability in step width. Furthermore, detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) exponent of step width, indicating the presence of long-range persistent correlations across time, decreased significantly after both MF and PF. Our results suggest that balance and gait characteristics of healthy young adults are affected differentially by PF and MF