{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,4]],"date-time":"2026-04-04T08:56:52Z","timestamp":1775293012592,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,18]],"date-time":"2021-06-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1623974400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008861","name":"United Kingdom Space Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ST\/S0001735\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ST\/S0001735\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008861","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The maximal power generating capacity of a muscle declines with age and has a negative impact on the performance of daily life activities. As muscle power is the product of force and velocity, we recruited 20 young (10 men, 10 women: 20\u201331 years) and 20 older (10 men, 10 women: 65\u201386 years) people to investigate which of these components contributes to the lower power and performance in old age. After determination of the maximal isometric knee extension torque (MVC), they performed a countermovement jump (CMJ) in 1) the normal situation (normal), 2) with an extra load of 15% body weight (loaded) and 3) 15% lower body weight (unloaded with a pulley system), and a timed up-and-go test (TUG) in the normal or loaded condition. The TUG and CMJ performance was lower in old than young participants (p&lt;0.001). Below a critical CMJ peak power of ~23.7 W\u00b7kg<jats:sup>-1<\/jats:sup> TUG showed a progressive decrease. The CMJ take-off velocity (V<jats:sub>off<\/jats:sub>) in the normal condition was lower in old than young participants (p&lt;0.001). However, the V<jats:sub>off<\/jats:sub> <jats:italic>vs<\/jats:italic>. body weight\/MVC relationship of the normal, loaded and unloaded data combined was similar in the old and young participants and fitted the Hill equation (R<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> = 0.396). This indicates that 1) only when peak power drops below a critical threshold TUG becomes impaired and 2) there was no evidence for intrinsic slowing of the muscle contractile properties in older people, but rather the older people were working on a slower part of the force-velocity relationship due to weaker muscles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0253531","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,18]],"date-time":"2021-06-18T17:29:38Z","timestamp":1624037378000},"page":"e0253531","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["The mobility limitation in healthy older people is due to weakness and not slower muscle contractile properties"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7399-4841","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hans","family":"Degens","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Attias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Evans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Frederick","family":"Wilkins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1200-1724","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Emma","family":"Hodson-Tole","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,18]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0253531.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"352","DOI":"10.1123\/japa.2013-0219","article-title":"Age-Related Loss of Muscle Mass, Strength, and Power and Their Association With Mobility in Recreationally-Active Older Adults in the United Kingdom","volume":"23","author":"TM Maden-Wilkinson","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Aging Phys Act"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0253531.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm9051561","article-title":"Determinants of Performance in the Timed Up-and-Go and Six-Minute Walk Tests in Young and Old Healthy Adults","volume":"9","author":"G Montgomery","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Clin Med"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0253531.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"556","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJM199503023320902","article-title":"Lower-extremity function in persons over the age of 70 years as a predictor of subsequent disability","volume":"332","author":"JM Guralnik","year":"1995","journal-title":"The New England journal of medicine"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0253531.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"755","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordjournals.aje.a009520","article-title":"Epidemiology of sarcopenia among the elderly in New Mexico","volume":"147","author":"RN Baumgartner","year":"1998","journal-title":"Am J Epidemiol"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0253531.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1287","DOI":"10.1093\/gerona\/gly040","article-title":"The Contributions of Fiber Atrophy, Fiber Loss, In Situ Specific Force, and Voluntary Activation to Weakness in Sarcopenia","volume":"73","author":"JS McPhee","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0253531.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1059","DOI":"10.1093\/gerona\/61.10.1059","article-title":"The loss of skeletal muscle strength, mass, and quality in older adults: the health, aging and body composition study","volume":"61","author":"BH Goodpaster","year":"2006","journal-title":"J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0253531.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-097X.2004.00567.x","article-title":"Is muscle power output a key factor in the age-related decline in physical performance? 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