Patterns of whole-body muscle activations following vertical perturbations during standing and walking

Desiderio Cano Porras, Jesse V. Jacobs, Rivka Inzelberg, Yotam Bahat, Gabriel Zeilig, Meir Plotnik*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background Falls commonly occur due to losses of balance associated with vertical body movements (e.g. reacting to uneven ground, street curbs). Research, however, has focused on horizontal perturbations, such as forward and backward translations of the standing surface. This study describes and compares muscle activation patterns following vertical and horizontal perturbations during standing and walking, and investigates the role of vision during standing postural responses. Methods Fourteen healthy participants (ten males; 27 +/- 4 years-old) responded to downward, upward, forward, and backward perturbations while standing and walking in a virtual reality (VR) facility containing a moveable platform with an embedded treadmill; participants were also exposed to visual perturbations in which only the virtual scenery moved. We collected bilateral surface electromyography (EMG) signals from 8 muscles (tibialis anterior, rectus femoris, rectus abdominis, external oblique, gastrocnemius, biceps femoris, paraspinals, deltoids). Parameters included onset latency, duration of activation, and activation magnitude. Standing perturbations comprised dynamic-camera (congruent), static-camera (incongruent) and eyes-closed sensory conditions. ANOVAs were used to compare the effects of perturbation direction and sensory condition across muscles. Results Vertical perturbations induced longer onset latencies and shorter durations of activation with lower activation magnitudes in comparison to horizontal perturbations (p

Original languageEnglish
Article number75
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 May 2021

Keywords

  • Virtual reality
  • Balance
  • Gait
  • Perturbations
  • Postural control
  • EMG
  • COMPENSATORY REACTIONS
  • LANDING MOVEMENTS
  • EMG ACTIVITY
  • HUMAN GAIT
  • RESPONSES
  • FALLS
  • SYNERGIES
  • BALANCE
  • ORGANIZATION
  • VISION

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