Dataset Information

Effects of robotic guidance on the coordination of locomotion.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Functional integration of motor activity patterns enables the production of coordinated movements, such as walking. The activation of muscles by weightened summation of activation signals has been demonstrated to represent the spatiotemporal components that determine motor behavior during walking. Exoskeleton robotic devices are now often used in the rehabilitation practice to assist physical therapy of individuals with neurological disorders. These devices are used to promote motor recovery by providing guidance force to the patients. The guidance should in principle lead to a muscle coordination similar to physiological human walking. However, the influence of robotic devices on locomotor patterns needs still to be characterized. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of force guidance and gait speed on the modular organization of walking in a group of eight healthy subjects. METHOD: A group of healthy subjects walked on a treadmill with and without robotic aiding at speeds of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 Km/h. The guidance force was varied between 20%, 40%, 70% and 100% level of assistance. EMG recordings were obtained from seven leg muscles of the dominant leg and kinematic and kinetic features of the knee and hip joints were extracted. RESULTS: Four motor modules were sufficient to represent the variety of behavioral goals demanded during robotic guidance, with similar relationships between muscle patterns and biomechanical parameters across subjects, confirming that the low-dimensional and impulsive control of human walking is maintained using robotic force guidance. The conditions of guidance force and speed that maintained correct and incorrect (not natural) modular control were identified. CONCLUSION: In neurologically intact subjects robotic-guided walking at various force guidance and speed levels does not alter the basic locomotor control and timing. This allows the design of robotic-aided rehabilitation strategies aimed at the modulation of motor modules, which are altered in stroke.

SUBMITTER: Moreno JC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3724716 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Effects of robotic guidance on the coordination of locomotion.

Moreno Juan C JC Barroso Filipe F Farina Dario D Gizzi Leonardo L Santos Cristina C Molinari Marco M Pons José L JL

Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation 20130719

<h4>Background</h4>Functional integration of motor activity patterns enables the production of coordinated movements, such as walking. The activation of muscles by weightened summation of activation signals has been demonstrated to represent the spatiotemporal components that determine motor behavior during walking. Exoskeleton robotic devices are now often used in the rehabilitation practice to assist physical therapy of individuals with neurological disorders. These devices are used to promote ...[more]

PMID: 23870328

Similar Datasets

Project description:Commissural interneurons (CINs) mediate interactions between rhythm-generating locomotor circuits located on each side of the spinal cord and are necessary for left-right limb coordination during locomotion. While glutamatergic V3 CINs have been implicated in left-right coordination, their functional connectivity remains elusive. Here, we addressed this issue by combining experimental and modeling approaches. We employed Sim1Cre/+; Ai32 mice, in which light-activated Channelrhodopsin-2 was selectively expressed in V3 interneurons. Fictive locomotor activity was evoked by NMDA and 5-HT in the isolated neonatal lumbar spinal cord. Flexor and extensor activities were recorded from left and right L2 and L5 ventral roots, respectively. Bilateral photoactivation of V3 interneurons increased the duration of extensor bursts resulting in a slowed down on-going rhythm. At high light intensities, extensor activity could become sustained. When light stimulation was shifted toward one side of the cord, the duration of extensor bursts still increased on both sides, but these changes were more pronounced on the contralateral side than on the ipsilateral side. Additional bursts appeared on the ipsilateral side not seen on the contralateral side. Further increase of the stimulation could suppress the contralateral oscillations by switching to a sustained extensor activity, while the ipsilateral rhythmic activity remained. To delineate the function of V3 interneurons and their connectivity, we developed a computational model of the spinal circuits consisting of two (left and right) rhythm generators (RGs) interacting via V0V, V0D, and V3 CINs. Both types of V0 CINs provided mutual inhibition between the left and right flexor RG centers and promoted left-right alternation. V3 CINs mediated mutual excitation between the left and right extensor RG centers. These interactions allowed the model to reproduce our current experimental data, while being consistent with previous data concerning the role of V0V and V0D CINs in securing left-right alternation and the changes in left-right coordination following their selective removal. We suggest that V3 CINs provide mutual excitation between the spinal neurons involved in the control of left and right extensor activity, which may promote left-right synchronization during locomotion.

Dataset Information

Effects of robotic guidance on the coordination of locomotion.

Publications

Effects of robotic guidance on the coordination of locomotion.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets