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Level of spinal cord lesion determines locomotor activity in spinal man
- Source :
- Experimental brain research. 128(3)
- Publication Year :
- 1999
-
Abstract
- Recent studies have demonstrated that coordinated stepping movements can be induced in patients with complete para-/tetraplegia, when they were standing on a moving treadmill with their body weight partially unloaded and external assistance. The aim of this study was to determine which part of the spinal cord generated the locomotor pattern. In patients with complete paraplegia due to lesions at different levels of the spinal cord, the locomotor pattern was compared with that of healthy subjects. Any similarities in electromyographic (EMG) activity of gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles between the patients and healthy subjects were reflected by the analysis of the variation ratio and amplitudes of the EMG activity. It was found that the higher the level of spinal cord lesion the more "normal" was the locomotor pattern. This suggests that neuronal circuits underlying locomotor "pattern generation" in man are not restricted to any specific level(s) of the spinal cord, but that an intricate neuronal network contributing to bipedal locomotion extends from thoracolumbal to cervical levels.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Neural substrate of locomotor central pattern generators in mammals
Neurological disorder
Electromyography
Motor Activity
Thoracic Vertebrae
Lesion
medicine
Humans
Muscle, Skeletal
Tetraplegia
Spinal Cord Injuries
Paraplegia
medicine.diagnostic_test
business.industry
General Neuroscience
Body movement
Anatomy
Middle Aged
musculoskeletal system
Spinal cord
medicine.disease
medicine.anatomical_structure
Thoracic vertebrae
Cervical Vertebrae
medicine.symptom
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00144819
- Volume :
- 128
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Experimental brain research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3abab2b006590313fc04cdceea546a69