Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
Published in: Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Review

Biomechanics and neural control of movement, 20 years later: what have we learned and what has changed?

Authors: Andrew D. Nordin, William Z. Rymer, Andrew A. Biewener, Andrew B. Schwartz, Daofen Chen, Fay B. Horak

Published in: Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

We summarize content from the opening thematic session of the 20th anniversary meeting for Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement (BANCOM). Scientific discoveries from the past 20 years of research are covered, highlighting the impacts of rapid technological, computational, and financial growth on motor control research. We discuss spinal-level communication mechanisms, relationships between muscle structure and function, and direct cortical movement representations that can be decoded in the control of neuroprostheses. In addition to summarizing the rich scientific ideas shared during the session, we reflect on research infrastructure and capacity that contributed to progress in the field, and outline unresolved issues and remaining open questions.
Literature
1.
2.
Houk JC, Rymer WZ, Crago PE. Dependence of dynamic response of spindle receptors on muscle length and velocity. J Neurophysiol. 1981;46:143–66.PubMed
3.
Willis W, Skinner R, Weir M. Field potentials of alpha and gamma motoneurons and Renshaw cells in response to activation of motor axons. Exp Neurol. 1969;25:57–69.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Eccles J, Eccles RM, Iggo A, Lundberg A. Electrophysiological studies on gamma motoneurones. Acta Physiol Scand. 1960;50:32–40.CrossRefPubMed
5.
6.
Burke D, Hagbarth K-E, Löfstedt L, Wallin BG. The responses of human muscle spindle endings to vibration during isometric contraction. J Physiol. 1976;261:695.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
7.
Edin BB, Vallbo A. Muscle afferent responses to isometric contractions and relaxations in humans. J Neurophysiol. 1990;63:1307–13.PubMed
8.
9.
Houk JC. Control strategies in physiological systems. FASEB J. 1988;2:97–107.PubMed
10.
Loeb GE, Brown IE, Cheng EJ. A hierarchical foundation for models of sensorimotor control. Exp Brain Res. 1999;126:1–18.CrossRefPubMed
11.
12.
Roll J, Vedel J. Kinaesthetic role of muscle afferents in man, studied by tendon vibration and microneurography. Exp Brain Res. 1982;47:177–90.CrossRefPubMed
13.
14.
Goodwin GM, McCloskey D, Matthews P. The contribution of muscle afferents to keslesthesia shown by vibration induced illusionsof movement and by the effects of paralysing joint afferents. Brain. 1972;95:705–48.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Roll J, Vedel J, Ribot E. Alteration of proprioceptive messages induced by tendon vibration in man: a microneurographic study. Exp Brain Res. 1989;76:213–22.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Dietz V, Sinkjaer T. Spastic movement disorder: impaired reflex function and altered muscle mechanics. Lancet Neurol. 2007;6:725–33.CrossRefPubMed
17.
18.
19.
Lanuza GM, Gosgnach S, Pierani A, Jessell TM, Goulding M. Genetic identification of spinal interneurons that coordinate left-right locomotor activity necessary for walking movements. Neuron. 2004;42:375–86.CrossRefPubMed
20.
21.
22.
Biewener AA, Roberts TJ. Muscle and Tendon Contributions to Force, Work, and Elastic Energy Savings: A Comparative Perspective. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2000;28(3):99–107.PubMed
23.
Walmsley B, Hodgson J, Burke R. Forces produced by medial gastrocnemius and soleus muscles during locomotion in freely moving cats. J Neurophysiol. 1978;41:1203–16.PubMed
24.
McMahon TA, Cheng GC. The mechanics of running: how does stiffness couple with speed? J Biomech. 1990;23:65–78.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Cavagna GA, Heglund NC, Taylor CR. Mechanical work in terrestrial locomotion: two basic mechanisms for minimizing energy expenditure. Am J Phys Regul Integr Comp Phys. 1977;233:R243–61.
26.
Gregor R, Roy R, Whiting W, Lovely R, Hodgson J, Edgerton V. Mechanical output of the cat soleus during treadmill locomotion: in vivo vs in situ characteristics. J Biomech. 1988;21:721–32.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Griffiths R. Shortening of muscle fibres during stretch of the active cat medial gastrocnemius muscle: the role of tendon compliance. J Physiol. 1991;436:219.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
28.
Herzog W, Leonard T, Guimaraes A. Forces in gastrocnemius, soleus, and plantaris tendons of the freely moving cat. J Biomech. 1993;26:945–53.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Roberts TJ, Marsh RL, Weyand PG, Taylor CR. Muscular force in running turkeys: the economy of minimizing work. Science. 1997;275:1113–5.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Daley MA, Biewener AA. Muscle force-length dynamics during level versus incline locomotion: a comparison of in vivo performance of two guinea fowl ankle extensors. J Exp Biol. 2003;206:2941–58.CrossRefPubMed
31.
32.
Griffiths R. The mechanics of the medial gastrocnemius muscle in the freely hopping wallaby (Thylogale Billardierii). J Exp Biol. 1989;147:439–56.
33.
McGuigan MP, Yoo E, Lee DV, Biewener AA. Dynamics of goat distal hind limb muscle–tendon function in response to locomotor grade. J Exp Biol. 2009;212:2092–104.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
34.
Biewener AA, Daley MA. Unsteady locomotion: integrating muscle function with whole body dynamics and neuromuscular control. J Exp Biol. 2007;210:2949–60.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
35.
Biewener AA, Corning WR, Tobalske BW. In vivo pectoralis muscle force-length behavior during level flight in pigeons (Columba Livia). J Exp Biol. 1998;201:3293–307.PubMed
36.
Daley MA, Biewener AA. Leg muscles that mediate stability: mechanics and control of two distal extensor muscles during obstacle negotiation in the guinea fowl. Philos. Trans R Soc B. 2011;366:1580–91.CrossRef
37.
Wakeling JM. Motor units are recruited in a task-dependent fashion during locomotion. J Exp Biol. 2004;207:3883–90.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Wakeling JM, Lee SS, Arnold AS, de Boef MM, Biewener AA. A muscle’s force depends on the recruitment patterns of its fibers. Ann Biomed Eng. 2012;40:1708–20.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
39.
Ross SA, Wakeling JM. Muscle shortening velocity depends on tissue inertia and level of activation during submaximal contractions. Biol Lett. 2016;12:20151041.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
40.
Otchy TM, Wolff SB, Rhee JY, Pehlevan C, Kawai R, Kempf A, et al. Acute off-target effects of neural circuit manipulations. Nature. 2015;528(7582):358–63.CrossRefPubMed
41.
Kawai R, Markman T, Poddar R, Ko R, Fantana AL, Dhawale AK, et al. Motor cortex is required for learning but not for executing a motor skill. Neuron. 2015;86:800–12.CrossRefPubMed
42.
Wu HG, Miyamoto YR, Castro LNG, Ölveczky BP, Smith MA. Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability. Nat Neurosci. 2014;17:312–21.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
43.
Schwartz AB, Moran DW. Motor cortical activity during drawing movements: population representation during lemniscate tracing. J Neurophysiol. 1999;82:2705–18.PubMed
44.
Moran DW, Schwartz AB. Motor cortical representation of speed and direction during reaching. J Neurophysiol. 1999;82:2676–92.PubMed
45.
Moran DW, Schwartz AB. Motor cortical activity during drawing movements: population representation during spiral tracing. J Neurophysiol. 1999;82:2693–704.PubMed
46.
Georgopoulos AP, Kalaska JF, Caminiti R, Massey JT. On the relations between the direction of two-dimensional arm movements and cell discharge in primate motor cortex. J Neurosci. 1982;2:1527–37.PubMed
47.
Georgopoulos AP, Schwartz AB, Kettner RE. Neuronal population coding of movement direction. Science. 1986;233:1416–9.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Georgopoulos AP, Kettner RE, Schwartz AB. Primate motor cortex and free arm movements to visual targets in three-dimensional space. II. Coding of the direction of movement by a neuronal population. J Neurosci. 1988;8:2928–37.PubMed
49.
Schwartz AB, Kettner RE, Georgopoulos AP. Primate motor cortex and free arm movements to visual targets in three-dimensional space. I. Relations between single cell discharge and direction of movement. J Neurosci. 1988;8:2913–27.PubMed
50.
Kettner RE, Schwartz AB, Georgopoulos AP. Primate motor cortex and free arm movements to visual targets in three-dimensional space. III. Positional gradients and population coding of movement direction from various movement origins. J Neurosci. 1988;8:2938–47.PubMed
51.
Georgopoulos AP, Lurito JT, Petrides M, Schwartz AB, Massey J. Mental rotation of the neuronal population vector. Science. 1989;235:234–6.CrossRef
52.
Schwartz AB. Motor cortical activity during drawing movements: population representation during sinusoid tracing. J Neurophysiol. 1993;70:28–36.PubMed
53.
54.
Williams JC, Rennaker RL, Kipke DR. Long-term neural recording characteristics of wire microelectrode arrays implanted in cerebral cortex. Brain Res Protocol. 1999;4:303–13.CrossRef
55.
Nordhausen CT, Maynard EM, Normann RA. Single unit recording capabilities of a 100 microelectrode array. Brain Res. 1996;726:129–40.CrossRefPubMed
56.
Schwartz AB, Cui XT, Weber DJ, Moran DW. Brain-controlled interfaces: 1018 movement restoration with neural prosthetics. Neuron. 2006;52:205–20.CrossRefPubMed
57.
Schwartz AB. Useful signals from motor cortex. JPhysiol. 2007;579:581–601.
58.
Taylor DM, Tillery SIH, Schwartz AB. Direct cortical control of 3D neuroprosthetic devices. Science. 2002;296:1829–32.CrossRefPubMed
59.
60.
Wu W, Gao Y, Bienenstock E, Donoghue JP, Black MJ. Bayesian population decoding of motor cortical activity using a Kalman filter. Neural Comput. 2006;18:80–118.CrossRefPubMed
61.
Wessberg J, Stambaugh CR, Kralik JD, Beck PD, Laubach M, Chapin JK, et al. Real-time prediction of hand trajectory by ensembles of cortical neurons in primates. Nature. 2000;408:361–5.CrossRefPubMed
62.
Velliste M, Perel S, Spalding MC, Whitford AS, Schwartz AB. Cortical control of a prosthetic arm for self-feeding. Nature. 2008;453:1098–101.CrossRefPubMed
63.
Fifer MS, Acharya S, Benz HL, Mollazadeh M, Crone NE, Thakor NV. Towards electrocorticographic control of a dexterous upper limb prosthesis. IEEE pulse. 2012;3:38.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
64.
Hochberg LR, Serruya MD, Friehs GM, Mukand JA, Saleh M, Caplan AH, et al. Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia. Nature. 2006;442:164–71.CrossRefPubMed
65.
Acharya S, Fifer MS, Benz HL, Crone NE, Thakor NV. Electrocorticographic amplitude predicts finger positions during slow grasping motions of the hand. J Neural Eng. 2010;7:46002.CrossRef
66.
Wolpaw JR, McFarland DJ. Control of a two-dimensional movement signal by a noninvasive brain-computer interface in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004;101:17849–54.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
67.
Krusienski DJ, Sellers EW, Cabestaing F, Bayoudh S, McFarland DJ, Vaughan TM, et al. A comparison of classification techniques for the P300 speller. J Neural Eng. 2006;3:299.CrossRefPubMed
68.
O’Doherty JE, Lebedev MA, Ifft PJ, Zhuang KZ, Shokur S, Bleuler H, et al. Active tactile exploration using a brain-machine-brain interface. Nature. 2011;479:228–31.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
69.
Wodlinger B, Downey J, Tyler-Kabara E, Schwartz A, Boninger M, Collinger J. Ten-dimensional anthropomorphic arm control in a human brain− machine interface: difficulties, solutions, and limitations. J Neural Eng. 2014;12:16011.CrossRef
70.
Flesher SN, Collinger JL, Foldes ST, Weiss JM, Downey JE, Tyler-Kabara EC, et al. Intracortical microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex. Science Translational Medicne. 2016;8(361):361ra141-361ra141.
71.
Wodlinger B, Downey JE, Tyler-Kabara EC, Schwartz AB, Boninger ML, Collinger JL. 10 dimensional anthropomorphic arm control in a human brain-machine interface: Difficulties, solutions, and limitations. J Neural Eng. 2014;12(1):016011.CrossRefPubMed
72.
Charley EA, Lagenaur CF, Stauffer WR, Cui X. Improving Brain Tissue Integration of the Neural Probes through Surface Immobilization of Biomolecules. Regenerate: Atlanta; 2005.
73.
Khilwani R, Gilgunn PJ, Kozai TDY, Ong XC, Korkmaz E, Gunalan PK, et al. Ultra-miniature ultra-compliant neural probes with dissolvable delivery needles: design, fabrication and characterization. Biomed Microdevices. 2016;18:97.CrossRefPubMed
74.
Patel PR, Zhang H, Robbins MT, Nofar JB, Marshall SP, Kobylarek MJ, et al. Chronic in vivo stability assessment of carbon fiber microelectrode arrays. J Neural Eng. 2016;13:66002.CrossRef
75.
Yin M, Borton DA, Komar J, Agha N, Lu Y, Li H, et al. Wireless Neurosensor for full-Spectrum electrophysiology recordings during free behavior. Neuron. 2014;84:1170–82.CrossRefPubMed
76.
Eblen MK, Wagner RM, RoyChowdhury D, Patel KC, Pearson K. How criterion scores predict the overall impact score and funding outcomes for National Institutes of Health peer-reviewed applications. PLoS One. 2016;11:e0155060.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
77.
78.
79.
80.
Landis SC, Amara SG, Asadullah K, Austin CP, Blumenstein R, Bradley EW, et al. A call for transparent reporting to optimize the predictive value of preclinical research. Nature. 2012;490:187–91.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
81.
Ting LH, Chiel HJ, Trumbower RD, Allen JL, McKay JL, Hackney ME, et al. Neuromechanical principles underlying movement modularity and their implications for rehabilitation. Neuron. 2015;86:38–54.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
82.
Pool LR, Wagner RM, Scott LL, RoyChowdhury D, Berhane R, Wu C, et al. Size and characteristics of the biomedical research workforce associated with US National Institutes of Health extramural grants. FASEB J. 2016;30:1023–36.CrossRefPubMed
83.
Charette MF, Oh YS, Maric-Bilkan C, Scott LL, Wu CC, Eblen M, et al. Shifting demographics among research project grant awardees at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). PLoS One. 2016;11:e0168511.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
84.
85.
Pickett CL, Corb BW, Matthews CR, Sundquist WI, Berg JM. Toward a sustainable biomedical research enterprise: finding consensus and implementing recommendations. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2015;112:10832–6.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Metadata
Title
Biomechanics and neural control of movement, 20 years later: what have we learned and what has changed?
Authors
Andrew D. Nordin
William Z. Rymer
Andrew A. Biewener
Andrew B. Schwartz
Daofen Chen
Fay B. Horak
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1743-0003
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-017-0298-y

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 1/2017 Go to the issue

Research

Increasing upper limb training intensity in chronic stroke using embodied virtual reality: a pilot study

Research

Feature selection for elderly faller classification based on wearable sensors

Research

Can Lokomat therapy with children and adolescents be improved? An adaptive clinical pilot trial comparing Guidance force, Path control, and FreeD

Research

In-lab versus at-home activity recognition in ambulatory subjects with incomplete spinal cord injury

Research

Association between mild cognitive impairment and trajectory-based spatial parameters during timed up and go test using a laser range sensor

Methodology

Mapping upper-limb motor performance after stroke - a novel method with utility for individualized motor training