Increased intramuscular coherence is associated with temporal gait symmetry during split-belt locomotor adaptation

When walking on a split-belt treadmill where one belt moves faster than the other, the nervous system consistently attempts to maintain symmetry between legs, quantified as deviation from double support time or step length symmetry. It is known that the cerebellum plays a critical role in locomotor adaptation. Less is known about the role of corticospinal drive in maintaining this type of proprioceptive-driven locomotor adaptation. The objective of this study was to examine the functional role of oscillatory drive in relation to changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters during split-belt walking adaptation. Eighteen healthy participants adapted and deadapted on a split-belt treadmill; 13 out of 18 participants repeated the paradigm two more times to examine the effects of reexposure. Coherence analysis was used to quantify the coupling between electromyography (EMG) from the proximal (TAprox) and distal tibialis anterior (TAdist) muscle during the swing phase of walking. EMG-EMG coherence was examined within the alpha (8–15 Hz), beta (15–30 Hz), and gamma (30–45 Hz) frequencies. Our results showed that 1) beta- and gamma-band coherence (markers of corticospinal drive) increased during early split-belt walking compared with baseline walking in the slow leg, 2) beta-band coherence decreased from early to late split-belt adaptation in the fast leg, 3) alpha-, beta-, and gamma-band coherence decreased from first to third split-belt exposure in the fast leg, and 4) there was a relationship between higher beta coherence in the slow leg TA and smaller double support asymmetry. Our results suggest that corticospinal drive may play a functional role in the temporal control of split-belt walking adaptation. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to examine the functional role of intramuscular coherence in relation to changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters during split-belt walking adaptation. We found that the corticospinal drive measured by intramuscular coherence in tibialis anterior changes with adaptation and that the corticospinal drive is related to temporal but not spatial parameters. This study may give insight as to the specific role of the motor cortex during gait.