TY - JOUR
T1 - Angular momentum during unexpected multidirectional perturbations delivered while walking
AU - Martelli, Dario
AU - Monaco, Vito
AU - Bassi Luciani, Lorenzo
AU - Micera, Silvestro
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - This study investigated the hypothesis that the coupled contribution of all body segments to the whole-body response during both walking and managing unexpected perturbations is characterized by similar features which do not depend on the laterality (i.e., right versus left sides), but can be influenced by the direction (e.g., north, east, south, etc.) of the perturbation. The whole-body angular momentum was estimated as summation of segmental angular momenta, while 15 young adults managed ten unexpected unilateral perturbations during walking. Then, the Principal component analysis was used to extract primitive features describing intersegment coordination. Results showed that intersegment coupling was similar even though the reactive response to the perturbations elicited more consistent motor schemes across body segments than during walking, especially in the frontal plane. The direction of the perturbation significantly $(p <0.05)$ affected angular momentum regulation documenting the attitude of the central nervous system to interpret multiple sensory inputs in order to produce context-dependent reactive responses. With respect to the side, results highlighted anisotropic features of the elicited motor schemes that seemed to depend on subjects' dominance. Finally, results confirm that the coordination of upper and lower body segments is synergistically achieved strengthening the hypothesis that it may result from common neural pathways.
AB - This study investigated the hypothesis that the coupled contribution of all body segments to the whole-body response during both walking and managing unexpected perturbations is characterized by similar features which do not depend on the laterality (i.e., right versus left sides), but can be influenced by the direction (e.g., north, east, south, etc.) of the perturbation. The whole-body angular momentum was estimated as summation of segmental angular momenta, while 15 young adults managed ten unexpected unilateral perturbations during walking. Then, the Principal component analysis was used to extract primitive features describing intersegment coordination. Results showed that intersegment coupling was similar even though the reactive response to the perturbations elicited more consistent motor schemes across body segments than during walking, especially in the frontal plane. The direction of the perturbation significantly $(p <0.05)$ affected angular momentum regulation documenting the attitude of the central nervous system to interpret multiple sensory inputs in order to produce context-dependent reactive responses. With respect to the side, results highlighted anisotropic features of the elicited motor schemes that seemed to depend on subjects' dominance. Finally, results confirm that the coordination of upper and lower body segments is synergistically achieved strengthening the hypothesis that it may result from common neural pathways.
KW - Angular momentum
KW - balance control
KW - interlimb coordination
KW - perturbation
KW - walking
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U2 - 10.1109/TBME.2013.2241434
DO - 10.1109/TBME.2013.2241434
M3 - Article
C2 - 23358944
AN - SCOPUS:84880062122
VL - 60
SP - 1785
EP - 1795
JO - IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering
JF - IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering
SN - 0018-9294
IS - 7
M1 - 6416030
ER -