Evaluation of Age and Sex Effects on Force Complexity and Fluctuation during isometric elbow flexion

This study attempts to examine the impact of age and gender on fluctuations in force output during voluntary muscle contractions and how this impacts task performance. More precisely, the study investigates how these fluctuations vary during an elbow flexion task at sub-maximal forces. Interestingly, the study found that elderly women exhibit lower steadiness, meaning they exhibit a diminished capacity to maintain a steady force output and lower complexity than young adults when dealing with high levels of contraction. This suggests that women may have a diminished ability to maintain a steady and adaptable force output during the elbow flexion task, which could affect their performance. However, the findings from this study show that the existence of notable differences in force fluctuations among diverse age groups was limited to specific levels of contraction. Thus, it can be deduced that various factors, apart from age alone, might contribute to the observed decrease in force fluctuations in this study. Additionally, there are differences in behavior between women and men.