Muscle Synergies Heavily Influence the Neural Control of Arm Endpoint Stiffness and Energy Consumption.

ABSTRACT: Much debate has arisen from research on muscle synergies with respect to both limb impedance control and energy consumption. Studies of limb impedance control in the context of reaching movements and postural tasks have produced divergent findings, and this study explores whether the use of synergies by the central nervous system (CNS) can resolve these findings and also provide insights on mechanisms of energy consumption. In this study, we phrase these debates at the conceptual level of interactions between neural degrees of freedom and tasks constraints. This allows us to examine the ability of experimentally-observed synergies--correlated muscle activations--to control both energy consumption and the stiffness component of limb endpoint impedance. In our nominal 6-muscle planar arm mod

SUBMITTER: Inouye JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4750997 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature