Publication Date

1-1-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Volume

17

DOI

10.3389/fnagi.2025.1583447

Abstract

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA), a prevalent musculoskeletal condition, is associated with an increased risk of falls. Maintaining posture relies on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs, but these systems can be compromised due to aging or disease, heightening fall risk. Such impairments may result from neuromuscular decline and reduced cognitive or visuospatial processing abilities. This study aimed to investigate prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation patterns during clinical sensory organization tasks (SOT) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in older women with OA and healthy controls (HOA). We hypothesized that PFC activation would increase as SOT conditions became more challenging, but that increases would be limited in OA, relative to HOA, given a decreased attentional capacity due to chronic pain. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 10 women with OA (65.7 ± 3.01 years) and 11 HOA (66.0 ± 4.86 years). Baseline cognitive and motor assessments preceded three trials of six SOT conditions. Results: Significant differences between groups in BMI, WOMAC pain score, repeated chair stand, and TUG scores were found (p < 0.001). Linear mixed-model analysis revealed significant effects of condition (CND; p < 0.001), trial (TR; p < 0.0001), and interactions between CND*TR (p < 0.01) and Cohort*CND (p < 0.01) on PFC activation. Discussion: In conclusion, both groups demonstrated increased PFC activation with task difficulty. However, OA participants exhibited diminished capacity to recruit additional attentional resources compared to HOA, emphasizing the need for further research with larger cohorts to elucidate these findings.

Funding Number

RB17155

Funding Sponsor

Campus Research Board

Keywords

balance, near infrared spectroscopy, osteoarthritis, prefrontal cortex, sensory organization task

Comments

© 2025 Bishnoi, Hu and Hernandez

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Kinesiology

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