Effects of Fatigue on Knee and Ankle Joint Angle Restoration After a Mountaineering Program

Abstract

Objectives: Fatigue leads to an increase in joint restoration errors because of nervous system fatigue and a lack of understanding of joint position and imbalance that may be due to the changes in walking patterns and excessive pressure on bones and soft tissue structures, which may ultimately lead to injuries in climbers. Accordingly, this study investigates the effect of fatigue on the restoration error of the knee and ankle joint angles. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. A total of 35 mountaineers aged 20-35 years were selected by the non-random sampling method. This research was conducted on September 10, 2022, at the Tochal Climbing Rout in Velenjak, Tehran City, Iran. The tests were taken before and after a mountaineering program for a distance of 8 km at an average speed. The position sense of knee and ankle joints was evaluated using the Mobimed, which is a type of electrogoniometer. The normal distribution of the data was statistically analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, and the data were analyzed using the paired t-test. The SPSS software, version 24, was used for all statistical operations (P≤0.05). Results: The findings showed that fatigue causes errors and significant changes in the restoration of knee and ankle joint angles and 30° (P=0.003), 45° (P=0.004), 60° (P=0.007), dorsiflexion of 10° (P=0.009) and plantar flexion of 20° (P=0.001), the restoration and sense of position is disturbed, which shows that fatigue is effective in understanding the state of the joints. Discussion: Fatigue increases the error of restoration of the knee and ankle joint angles, which can reduce the optimal performance of the muscles around the joints by reducing the person’s understanding of the angles and the sense of the joint position.

Keywords

• fatigue
• pain
• proprioception
• climbers