Dynamic Arm Movements Research Articles

Dynamic arm movements attenuate the perceptual distortion of visual vertical induced during prolonged whole-body tilt.

Concurrent body movements have been shown to enhance the accuracy of spatial judgment, but it remains unclear whether they also contribute to perceptual estimates of gravitational space not involving body movements. To address this, we evaluated the effects of static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged whole-body tilt on the subsequent perceptual estimates of visual or postural vertical. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to continuously perform static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged tilt, and we assessed their effects on the prolonged tilt-induced shifts of subjective visual vertical (SVV) at a tilted position (during-tilt session) or near upright (post-tilt session). In Experiment 2, we evaluated how static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged tilt subsequently affected the subjective postural vertical (SPV). In Experiment 1, we observed that the SVV was significantly shifted toward the direction of prolonged tilt in both sessions. The SVV shifts decreased when performing dynamic arm movements in the during-tilt session, but not in the post-tilt session. In Experiment 2, as well as SVV, the SPV was shifted toward the direction of prolonged tilt, but it was not significantly attenuated by the performance of static or dynamic arm movements. The results of the during-tilt session suggest that the central nervous system utilizes additional information generated by dynamic body movements for perceptual estimates of visual vertical.

EMG-Based Continuous and Simultaneous Estimation of Arm Kinematics in Able-Bodied Individuals and Stroke Survivors.

Among the potential biological signals for human-machine interactions (brain, nerve, and muscle signals), electromyography (EMG) widely used in clinical setting can be obtained non-invasively as motor commands to control movements. The aim of this study was to develop a model for continuous and simultaneous decoding of multi-joint dynamic arm movements based on multi-channel surface EMG signals crossing the joints, leading to application of myoelectrically controlled exoskeleton robots for upper-limb rehabilitation. Twenty subjects were recruited for this study including 10 stroke subjects and 10 able-bodied subjects. The subjects performed free arm reaching movements in the horizontal plane with an exoskeleton robot. The shoulder, elbow and wrist movements and surface EMG signals from six muscles crossing the three joints were recorded. A non-linear autoregressive exogenous (NARX) model was developed to continuously decode the shoulder, elbow and wrist movements based solely on the EMG signals. The shoulder, elbow and wrist movements were decoded accurately based only on the EMG inputs in all the subjects, with the variance accounted for (VAF) > 98% for all three joints. The proposed approach is capable of simultaneously and continuously decoding multi-joint movements of the human arm by taking into account the non-linear mappings between the muscle EMGs and joint movements, which may provide less effortful control of robotic exoskeletons for rehabilitation training of individuals with neurological disorders and arm impairment.

Modulation of corticospinal input to the legs by arm and leg cycling in people with incomplete spinal cord injury.

The spinal cervico-lumbar interaction during rhythmic movements in humans has recently been studied; however, the role of arm movements in modulating the corticospinal drive to the legs is not well understood. The goals of this study were to investigate the effect of active rhythmic arm movements on the corticospinal drive to the legs (study 1) and assess the effect of simultaneous arm and leg training on the corticospinal pathway after incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) (study 2). In study 1, neurologically intact (NI) participants or participants with iSCI performed combinations of stationary and rhythmic cycling of the arms and legs while motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the vastus lateralis (VL) muscle. In the NI group, arm cycling alone could facilitate the VL MEP amplitude, suggesting that dynamic arm movements strongly modulate the corticospinal pathway to the legs. No significant difference in VL MEP between conditions was found in participants with iSCI. In study 2, participants with iSCI underwent 12 wk of electrical stimulation-assisted cycling training: one group performed simultaneous arm and leg (A&L) cycling and the other legs-only cycling. MEPs in the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle were compared before and after training. After training, only the A&L group had a significantly larger TA MEP, suggesting increased excitability in the corticospinal pathway. The findings demonstrate the importance of arm movements in modulating the corticospinal drive to the legs and suggest that active engagement of the arms in lower limb rehabilitation may produce better neural regulation and restoration of function.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study aimed to demonstrate the importance of arm movements in modulating the corticospinal drive to the legs. It provides direct evidence in humans that active movement of the arms could facilitate corticospinal transmission to the legs and, for the first time, shows that facilitation is absent after spinal cord injury. Active engagement of the arms in lower limb rehabilitation increased the excitability of the corticospinal pathway and may produce more effective improvement in leg function.

Classification of Multiple Finger Motions During Dynamic Upper Limb Movements.

To better restore human hand function, advanced hand prostheses should be able to deal with a variety of daily living conditions. In this paper, we addressed myoelectric signal variations introduced by different muscle contractions, dynamic arm movements, and outer interfering forces in the practice of pattern recognition-based myoelectric control schemes. We examined four different training paradigms (data-collection protocols) and quantified their effectiveness for obtaining a robust classification. We further depicted the classification accuracy according to different arm/wrist motion primitives. Our results indicate the training paradigm that collects myoelectric signals on dynamic arm postures and varying muscular contractions (DPDE) can largely mitigate the motions' misclassification rate. The misclassification rate of finger motions seems to highly correlate to wrist pronation and supination, rather than different arm positions. Combining proprioceptive information, such as the hand's orientation, with myoelectric signals for classification only slightly alleviates the misclassification rate.

Virtual reality game-based therapy for treatment of postural and co-ordination abnormalities secondary to TBI: A pilot study

Primary objective: The study objective was to test the efficacy of game-based virtual reality (VR) therapy as a mean of correcting postural and co-ordination abnormalities in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Therapy was done with interactive customized VR games and scenarios, utilizing an Xbox Kinect sensor.Research design: The study was a pilot project using the structure of a phase II clinical trial.Methods and procedures: Fifteen participants with mild-to-moderate chronic TBI-related balance and motor co-ordination impairments participated in 15 sessions, each lasting ∼50–55 minutes, scheduled 2–3 times a week over 5–6 consecutive weeks. Participants were evaluated at baseline, immediately after the final session and in a 1-month follow-up with a battery of clinical tests (measuring postural stability, gait and co-ordination) and movement performance parameters. Movement parameters included arm–leg co-ordination, dynamic stability and arm precision, calculated from kinematic data recorded with Xbox Kinect sensor.Results: Following therapy, most participants improved their static and dynamic postural stability, gait and arm movements. These effects persisted over the retention interval.Conclusions: Results will be used to improve the VR program, with the goal of producing a cost-effective, accessible and easy to individualize therapeutic approach. The pilot data will be used for designing a larger scale clinical trial.

Electromyogram-based neural network control of transhumeral prostheses

Upper-limb amputation can cause a great deal of functional impairment for patients, particularly for those with amputation at or above the elbow. Our long-term objective is to improve functional outcomes for patients with amputation by integrating a fully implanted electromyographic (EMG) recording system with a wireless telemetry system that communicates with the patient's prosthesis. We believe that this should generate a scheme that will allow patients to robustly control multiple degrees of freedom simultaneously. The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of predicting dynamic arm movements (both flexion/extension and pronation/supination) based on EMG signals from a set of muscles that would likely be intact in patients with transhumeral amputation. We recorded movement kinematics and EMG signals from seven muscles during a variety of movements with different complexities. Time-delayed artificial neural networks were then trained offline to predict the measured arm trajectories based on features extracted from the measured EMG signals. We evaluated the relative effectiveness of various muscle subsets. Predicted movement trajectories had average root-mean-square errors of approximately 15.7° and 24.9° and average R(2) values of approximately 0.81 and 0.46 for elbow flexion/extension and forearm pronation/supination, respectively.

Rapid Communication A system for a strain-oriented analysis of the layout of assembly workplaces

A measuring system for the more thorough analysis of muscular strain at assembly workplaces was developed. These workplaces were often based on the application of systems of predetermined motion time. The new measuring system makes use of the well-established method of electromyography, and synchronous recording of the hand-arm-shoulder motions by means of ultrasonic signals. Furthermore, a new calibration apparatus was installed, and used for the recording of maximum forces of several hand-arm-shoulder muscles during dynamic arm movements. The experimental arrangement aimed to support the design of a workplace layout, which could be used to indicate low strain motions and low strain work areas for the reach of the upper extremities. The results, yielded by the application of the measuring and evaluation system, can be the basis for a system of predetermined strain. Monitoring five muscles as an example, the application of the system for the analysis of different work rates and a worker-friendly assembly area is illustrated.