Postural maintenance during fast forward bending: a model simulation experiment determines the “reduced trajectory”

Summary

A recent article by Crenna et al. (1987) has shown that fast, forward bending movements are accompanied by a backwards motion of the hips and lower limbs. The ongoing research presented in this brief note expands upon the experimental data described by Crenna and colleagues, concerning the postural activities associated with rapid forward bending in standing man. Our primary experimental tool is the computer simulation method, with the standing subject being represented by a double-joint system: the trunk is modeled as a rigid link mechanically coupled (via a “hip” joint) to the lower body link fixed to the ground (via an “ankle” joint). Each of the two joints in this system is independently controlled by a neurological control model for single joint movements, consisting of an idealized pair of antagonistic muscles (flexor and extensor), their common load, and proprioception from the muscle spindles. This model thereby integrates descending commands with proprioceptive feedback in controlling the joint movements. Our early simulation experiments determine a “reduced trajectory”, that is, the physical perturbation to the postural system, due to the voluntary movement, in the absence of any stabilizing activities. These simulation experiments clearly show that an important component of the backward movements in the hips and lower limbs during forward bending is indeed due to the mechanical (physical) coupling between the upper and lower body segments and thus not solely a consequence of the anticipatory postural muscle activity. Simulations also predict that any postural activities in the hips and lower limbs should be a two-fold process: first, some preprogrammed, descending control to the lower body would be required to actively enhance the passive, backwards motion (this is consistent with, though not strictly identical to, the hypothesis of Crenna and colleagues); secondly, there must be a subsequent activation in the anterior muscles of the lower body in order to arrest this backwards motion, since otherwise the uncountered momentum would carry the body backward to the floor in less than half a second after the upper body movement has terminated.