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  4. Coordinated modulation of locomotor muscle synergies constructs straight-ahead and curvilinear walking in humans
 
research article

Coordinated modulation of locomotor muscle synergies constructs straight-ahead and curvilinear walking in humans

Courtine, Grégoire
•
Papaxanthis, Charalambos
•
Schieppati, Marco
2006
Experimental Brain Research

We describe the muscle synergies accompanying steering of walking along curved trajectories, in order to analyze the simultaneous control of progression and balance-threatening emerging forces. For this purpose, we bilaterally recorded in ten subjects the electromyograms (EMGs) of a representative sample of leg and trunk muscles (n=16) during continuous walking along one straight and two curved trajectories at natural speed. Curvilinear locomotion involved a graded, limb-dependent modulation of amplitude and timing of activity of the muscles of the legs and trunk. The turn-related modulation of the motor pattern was highly coordinated amongst muscles and body sides. For all muscles, linear relationships were detected between the spatial and temporal features of muscle EMG activity. The largest modulation of EMG was observed in gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis muscles, which showed opposite changes in timing and amplitude during curve-walking. Moreover, amplitude and timing characteristics of muscle activities were significantly correlated with the spatial and temporal gait adaptations that are associated with curvilinear locomotion. The present results reveal that fine-modulation of the muscle synergies underlying straight-ahead locomotion is enough to generate the adequate propulsive forces to steer walking and maintain balance. These findings suggest that the turn-related command operates by modulation of the phase relationships between the tightly coupled neuronal assemblies that drive motor neuron activity during walking. This would produce the invariant templates for locomotion kinematics that are at the base of human navigation in space

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1007/s00221-005-0215-7
Author(s)
Courtine, Grégoire
Papaxanthis, Charalambos
Schieppati, Marco
Date Issued

2006

Published in
Experimental Brain Research
Volume

170

Issue

3

Start page

320

End page

335

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

OTHER

EPFL units
UPCOURTINE  
Available on Infoscience
October 29, 2018
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/149497
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