Motor module generalization across balance and walking is impaired after stroke

Analysis of muscle synergies and muscle network in sling exercise rehabilitation technique

The study assessed motor control strategies across the four sling exercises of supine sling exercise (SSE), prone sling exercise (PSE), left side-lying sling exercise (LLSE), and right side-lying sling exercise (RLSE) positions base on the muscle synergies and muscle network analyses. Muscle activities of bilateral transversus abdominis (TA), rectus abdominis, multifidus (MF), and erector spinae (ES) were captured via surface electromyography. Muscle synergies were extracted through principal components analysis (PCA) and non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF). Muscle synergies number, muscle synergies complexity, muscle synergies sparseness, muscle synergies clusters and muscle networks were calculated. PCA results indicated that SSE and PSE decomposed into 2.88 ± 0.20 and 2.82 ± 0.15 synergies respectively, while the LLSE and RLSE positions decomposed into 3.76 ± 0.14 and 3.71 ± 0.11 muscle synergies, respectively, which were more complex (P = 0.00) but less sparse (P = 0.01). Muscle synergies clusters analysis indicated common muscle synergies among different sling exercises. SSE position demonstrated specific muscle synergies with a strong contribution of the bilateral TA. LLSE-specific synergy has a strong contribution of the left erector spinae (ES). The RLSE-specific synergy has significant contributions from the right ES and multifidus. Muscle networks were functionally organized, with clustering coefficient (F(1.5, 24) = 6.041, P = 0.01) and global efficiency of the undirected network (F(1.5, 24) = 6.041, P = 0.01), and betweenness-centrality of the directed network (F(2.7, 44) = 6.453, P = 0.00). Our research highlights the importance of evaluating muscle synergies and network adaptation strategies in individuals with neuromuscular disorders and developing targeted therapeutic interventions accordingly.

Ethnokinesiology: towards a neuromechanical understanding of cultural differences in movement

Each individual's movements are sculpted by constant interactions between sensorimotor and sociocultural factors. A theoretical framework grounded in motor control mechanisms articulating how sociocultural and biological signals converge to shape movement is currently missing. Here, we propose a framework for the emerging field of ethnokinesiology aiming to provide a conceptual space and vocabulary to help bring together researchers at this intersection. We offer a first-level schema for generating and testing hypotheses about cultural differences in movement to bridge gaps between the rich observations of cross-cultural movement variations and neurophysiological and biomechanical accounts of movement. We explicitly dissociate two interacting feedback loops that determine culturally relevant movement: one governing sensorimotor tasks regulated by neural signals internal to the body, the other governing ecological tasks generated through actions in the environment producing ecological consequences. A key idea is the emergence of individual-specific and culturally influenced motor concepts in the nervous system, low-dimensional functional mappings between sensorimotor and ecological task spaces. Motor accents arise from perceived differences in motor concept topologies across cultural contexts. We apply the framework to three examples: speech, gait and grasp. Finally, we discuss how ethnokinesiological studies may inform personalized motor skill training and rehabilitation, and challenges moving forward.This article is part of the theme issue 'Minds in movement: embodied cognition in the age of artificial intelligence'.

Delayed Cortical Responses During Reactive Balance After Stroke Associated With Slower Kinetics and Clinical Balance Dysfunction

BACKGROUND

Slowed balance and mobility after stroke have been well-characterized. Yet the effects of unilateral cortical lesions on whole-body neuromechanical control is poorly understood, despite increased reliance on cortical resources for balance and mobility with aging. Objective. We tested whether individuals post stroke show impaired cortical responses evoked during reactive balance, and the effect of asymmetrical interlimb contributions to balance recovery and the evoked cortical response.

METHODS

Using electroencephalography, we assessed cortical N1 responses evoked over fronto-midline regions (Cz) during backward support-surface perturbations loading both legs and posterior-lateral directions that preferentially load the paretic or nonparetic leg in individuals' post-stroke and age-matched controls. We tested relationships between cortical responses and clinical balance/mobility function, as well as to center of pressure (CoP) rate of rise (RoR) during balance recovery.

RESULTS

Cortical N1 responses were smaller and delayed after stroke (P < .047), regardless of perturbation condition. In contrast to controls, slower cortical response latencies associated with lower clinical function in stroke (Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test: r = -.61, P = .007; Timed-Up-and-Go: r = .53, P = .024; walking speed: r = -.46, P = .055). Paretic-loaded balance recovery revealed slower CoP RoR (P = .012) that was associated with delayed cortical response latencies (r = -.70, P = .003); these relationships were not present during bilateral and nonparetic-loaded conditions, nor in the older adults control group.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals after stroke may be limited in their balance ability by the slowed speed of their cortical responses to destabilization. In particular, paretic leg loading may reveal cortical response impairments that reflect reduced paretic motor capacity.

Increased trial-to-trial similarity and reduced temporal overlap of muscle synergy activation coefficients manifest during learning and with increasing movement proficiency

Muscle synergy analyses are used to enhance our understanding of motor control. Spatially fixed synergy weights coordinate multiple co-active muscles through activation commands, known as activation coefficients. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of motor learning, it is essential to understand how activation coefficients vary during a learning task and at different levels of movement proficiency. Participants walked on a line, a beam, and learned to walk on a tightrope-tasks that represent different levels of proficiency. Muscle synergies were extracted from electromyography signals across all conditions and the number of synergies was determined by the knee-point of the total variance accounted for (tVAF) curve. The results indicated that the tVAF of one synergy decreased with task proficiency, with the tightrope task resulting in the highest tVAF compared to the line and beam tasks. Furthermore, with increasing proficiency and after a learning process, trial-to-trial similarity increased and temporal overlap of synergy activation coefficients decreased. Consequently, we propose that precise adjustment and refinement of synergy activation coefficients play a pivotal role in motor learning.

Muscle synergies are shared across fundamental subtasks in complex movements of skateboarding

A common theory of motor control posits that movement is controlled by muscle synergies. However, the behavior of these synergies during highly complex movements remains largely unexplored. Skateboarding is a hardly researched sport that requires rapid motor control to perform tricks. The objectives of this study were to investigate three key areas: (i) whether motor complexity differs between skateboard tricks, (ii) the inter-participant variability in synergies, and (iii) whether synergies are shared between different tricks. Electromyography data from eight muscles per leg were collected from seven experienced skateboarders performing three different tricks (Ollie, Kickflip, 360°-flip). Synergies were extracted using non-negative matrix factorization. The number of synergies (NoS) was determined using two criteria based on the total variance accounted for (tVAF > 90% and adding an additional synergy does not increase tVAF > 1%). In summary: (i) NoS and tVAF did not significantly differ between tricks, indicating similar motor complexity. (ii) High inter-participant variability exists across participants, potentially caused by the low number of constraints given to perform the tricks. (iii) Shared synergies were observed in every comparison of two tricks. Furthermore, each participant exhibited at least one synergy vector, which corresponds to the fundamental 'jumping' task, that was shared through all three tricks.

NSF DARE-Transforming modeling in neurorehabilitation: Four threads for catalyzing progress

We present an overview of the Conference on Transformative Opportunities for Modeling in Neurorehabilitation held in March 2023. It was supported by the Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering (DARE) program from the National Science Foundation's Engineering Biology and Health Cluster. The conference brought together experts and trainees from around the world to discuss critical questions, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of computational modeling and neurorehabilitation to understand, optimize, and improve clinical translation of neurorehabilitation. We organized the conference around four key, relevant, and promising Focus Areas for modeling: Adaptation & Plasticity, Personalization, Human-Device Interactions, and Modeling 'In-the-Wild'. We identified four common threads across the Focus Areas that, if addressed, can catalyze progress in the short, medium, and long terms. These were: (i) the need to capture and curate appropriate and useful data necessary to develop, validate, and deploy useful computational models (ii) the need to create multi-scale models that span the personalization spectrum from individuals to populations, and from cellular to behavioral levels (iii) the need for algorithms that extract as much information from available data, while requiring as little data as possible from each client (iv) the insistence on leveraging readily available sensors and data systems to push model-driven treatments from the lab, and into the clinic, home, workplace, and community. The conference archive can be found at (dare2023.usc.edu). These topics are also extended by three perspective papers prepared by trainees and junior faculty, clinician researchers, and federal funding agency representatives who attended the conference.

Age-related modifications of muscle synergies during daily-living tasks: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Aging is associated with changes in neuromuscular control that can lead to difficulties in performing daily living tasks. Muscle synergy analysis allows the assessment of neuromuscular control strategies and functional deficits. However, the age-related changes of muscle synergies during functional tasks are scattered throughout the literature. This review aimed to synthesize the existing literature on muscle synergies in elderly people during daily-living tasks and examine how they differ from those exhibited by young adults.

METHODS

The Medline, CINAHL and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies were included if they focused on muscle synergies in elderly people during walking, sit-to-stand or stair ascent, and if muscle synergies were obtained by a matrix factorization algorithm.

FINDINGS

Seventeen studies were included after the screening process. The muscle synergies of 295 elderly people and 182 young adults were reported, including 5 to 16 muscles per leg, or leg and trunk. Results suggest that: 1) elderly people and young adults retain similar muscle synergies' number, 2) elderly people have higher muscles weighting during walking, and 3) an increased inter and intra-subject temporal activation variability during specific tasks (i.e., walking and stair ascent, respectively) was reported in elderly people compared to young adults.

INTERPRETATION

This review gives a comprehensive understanding of age-related changes in neuromuscular control during daily living tasks. Our findings suggested that although the number of synergies remains similar, metrics such as spatial and temporal structures of synergies are more suitable to identify neuromuscular control deficits between young adults and elderly people.

Compensatory increase in ipsilesional supplementary motor area and premotor connectivity is associated with greater gait impairments: a personalized fMRI analysis in chronic stroke

Background

Balance and mobility impairments are prevalent post-stroke and a large number of survivors require walking assistance at 6 months post-stroke which diminishes their overall quality of life. Personalized interventions for gait and balance rehabilitation are crucial. Recent evidence indicates that stroke lesions in primary motor pathways, such as corticoreticular pathways (CRP) and corticospinal tract (CST), may lead to reliance on alternate motor pathways as compensation, but the current evidence lacks comprehensive knowledge about the underlying neural mechanisms.

Methods

In this study, we investigate the functional connectivity (FC) changes within the motor network derived from an individualized cortical parcellation approach in 33 participants with chronic stroke compared to 17 healthy controls. The correlations between altered motor FC and gait deficits (i.e., walking speed and walking balance) were then estimated in the stroke population to understand the compensation mechanism of the motor network in motor function rehabilitation post-stroke.

Results

Our results demonstrated significant FC increases between ipsilesional medial supplementary motor area (SMA) and premotor in stroke compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, we also revealed a negative correlation between ipsilesional SMA-premotor FC and self-selected walking speed, as well as the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) scores.

Conclusion

The increased FC between the ipsilesional SMA and premotor regions could be a compensatory mechanism within the motor network following a stroke when the individual can presumably no longer rely on the more precise CST modulation of movements to produce a healthy walking pattern. These findings enhance our understanding of individualized motor network FC changes and their connection to gait and walking balance impairments post-stroke, improving stroke rehabilitation interventions.

The beneficial effects of transitional care for patients with stroke: A meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Transitional care interventions have emerged as a promising method of ensuring treatment continuity and health care coordination when patients are discharged from hospital to home. However, few studies have investigated the frequency and duration of interventions and the effects of interventions on physical function. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the efficacy of transitional care for patients with stroke.

METHODS

Six databases and the grey literature were searched to obtain relevant articles from October 1, 2022 to March 10, 2023. The primary outcomes studied were motor performance, walking speed, activities of daily living (ADLs) and caregiver burden following hospital-to-home transitional care. The quality of the studies was assessed with Cochrane risk of bias version 2. The quality and sensitivity of the evidence were assessed to ensure rigour of the findings. Meta-analyses were performed using stata 17.0.

RESULTS

A total of 2966 patients were identified from 23 studies. Transitional care improved post-stroke motor performance, walking speed and ADLs, and reduced caregiver burden.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that provision of transitional care model implementation in patients with stroke is important because it reduces disability in stroke patients and helps to decrease caregivers' burden.

IMPACT

The findings of the study emphasize the importance of transitional care programmes for stroke patients after they are discharged from the hospital and returned to their homes. To meet the needs of patients, all levels of health professionals including nurses should be aware of the discharge process and care plan.

Delayed cortical engagement associated with balance dysfunction after stroke

Cortical resources are typically engaged for balance and mobility in older adults, but these resources are impaired post-stroke. Although slowed balance and mobility after stroke have been well-characterized, the effects of unilateral cortical lesions due to stroke on neuromechanical control of balance is poorly understood. Our central hypothesis is that stroke impairs the ability to rapidly and effectively engage the cerebral cortex during balance and mobility behaviors, resulting in asymmetrical contributions of each limb to balance control. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we assessed cortical N1 responses evoked over fronto-midline regions (Cz) during balance recovery in response to backward support-surface perturbations loading both legs, as well as posterior-lateral directions that preferentially load the paretic or nonparetic leg. Cortical N1 responses were smaller and delayed in the stroke group. While older adults exhibited weak or absent relationships between cortical responses and clinical function, stroke survivors exhibited strong associations between slower N1 latencies and slower walking, lower clinical mobility, and lower balance function. We further assessed kinetics of balance recovery during perturbations using center of pressure rate of rise. During backward support-surface perturbations that loaded the legs bilaterally, balance recovery kinetics were not different between stroke and control groups and were not associated with cortical response latency. However, lateralized perturbations revealed slower kinetic reactions during paretic loading compared to controls, and to non-paretic loading within stroke participants. Individuals post stroke had similar nonparetic-loaded kinetic reactions to controls implicating that they effectively compensate for impaired paretic leg kinetics when relying on the non-paretic leg. In contrast, paretic-loaded balance recovery revealed time-synchronized associations between slower cortical responses and slower kinetic reactions only in the stroke group, potentially reflecting the limits of cortical engagement for balance recovery revealed within the behavioral context of paretic motor capacity. Overall, our results implicate individuals after stroke may be uniquely limited in their balance ability by the slowed speed of their cortical engagement, particularly under challenging balance conditions that rely on the paretic leg. We expect this neuromechanical insight will enable progress toward an individualized framework for the assessment and treatment of balance impairments based on the interaction between neuropathology and behavioral context.

Discovering individual-specific gait signatures from data-driven models of neuromechanical dynamics

Locomotion results from the interactions of highly nonlinear neural and biomechanical dynamics. Accordingly, understanding gait dynamics across behavioral conditions and individuals based on detailed modeling of the underlying neuromechanical system has proven difficult. Here, we develop a data-driven and generative modeling approach that recapitulates the dynamical features of gait behaviors to enable more holistic and interpretable characterizations and comparisons of gait dynamics. Specifically, gait dynamics of multiple individuals are predicted by a dynamical model that defines a common, low-dimensional, latent space to compare group and individual differences. We find that highly individualized dynamics-i.e., gait signatures-for healthy older adults and stroke survivors during treadmill walking are conserved across gait speed. Gait signatures further reveal individual differences in gait dynamics, even in individuals with similar functional deficits. Moreover, components of gait signatures can be biomechanically interpreted and manipulated to reveal their relationships to observed spatiotemporal joint coordination patterns. Lastly, the gait dynamics model can predict the time evolution of joint coordination based on an initial static posture. Our gait signatures framework thus provides a generalizable, holistic method for characterizing and predicting cyclic, dynamical motor behavior that may generalize across species, pathologies, and gait perturbations.

Using different matrix factorization approaches to identify muscle synergy in stroke survivors

Over the past several decades, many scholars have investigated muscle synergy as a promising tool for evaluating motor function. However, it is challenging to obtain favorable robustness using the general muscle synergy identification algorithms, namely non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), independent component analysis (ICA), and factor analysis (FA). Some scholars have proposed improved muscle synergy identification algorithms to overcome the shortcomings of these approaches, such as singular value decomposition NMF (SVD-NMF), sparse NMF (S-NMF), and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS). However, performance comparisons of these algorithms are seldom conducted. In this study, experimental electromyography (EMG) data collected from healthy individuals and stroke survivors were applied to assess the repeatability and intra-subject consistency of NMF, SVD-NMF, S-NMF, ICA, FA, and MCR-ALS. MCR-ALS presented higher repeatability and intra-subject consistencies than the other algorithms. More synergies and lower intra-subject consistencies were observed in stroke survivors than in healthy individuals. Thus, MCR-ALS is considered a favorable muscle synergy identification algorithm for patients with neural system disorders.

Muscle synergies for evaluating upper limb in clinical applications: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Muscle synergies have been proposed as a strategy employed by the central nervous system to control movements. Muscle synergy analysis is a well-established framework to examine the pathophysiological basis of neurological diseases and has been applied for analysis and assessment in clinical applications in the last decades, even if it has not yet been widely used in clinical diagnosis, rehabilitative treatment and interventions. Even if inconsistencies in the outputs among studies and lack of a normative pipeline including signal processing and synergy analysis limit the progress, common findings and results are identifiable as a basis for future research. Therefore, a literature review that summarizes methods and main findings of previous works on upper limb muscle synergies in clinical environment is needed to i) summarize the main findings so far, ii) highlight the barriers limiting their use in clinical applications, and iii) suggest future research directions needed for facilitating translation of experimental research to clinical scenarios.

METHODS

Articles in which muscle synergies were used to analyze and assess upper limb function in neurological impairments were reviewed. The literature research was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. Experimental protocols (e.g., the aim of the study, number and type of participants, number and type of muscles, and tasks), methods (e.g., muscle synergy models and synergy extraction methods, signal processing methods), and the main findings of eligible studies were reported and discussed.

RESULTS

383 articles were screened and 51 were selected, which involved a total of 13 diseases and 748 patients and 1155 participants. Each study investigated on average 15 ± 10 patients. Four to forty-one muscles were included in the muscle synergy analysis. Point-to-point reaching was the most used task. The preprocessing of EMG signals and algorithms for synergy extraction varied among studies, and non-negative matrix factorization was the most used method. Five EMG normalization methods and five methods for identifying the optimal number of synergies were used in the selected papers. Most of the studies report that analyses on synergy number, structure, and activations provide novel insights on the physiopathology of motor control that cannot be gained with standard clinical assessments, and suggest that muscle synergies may be useful to personalize therapies and to develop new therapeutic strategies. However, in the selected studies synergies were used only for assessment; different testing procedures were used and, in general, study-specific modifications of muscle synergies were observed; single session or longitudinal studies mainly aimed at assessing stroke (71% of the studies), even though other pathologies were also investigated. Synergy modifications were either study-specific or were not observed, with few analyses available for temporal coefficients. Thus, several barriers prevent wider adoption of muscle synergy analysis including a lack of standardized experimental protocols, signal processing procedures, and synergy extraction methods. A compromise in the design of the studies must be found to combine the systematicity of motor control studies and the feasibility of clinical studies. There are however several potential developments that might promote the use of muscle synergy analysis in clinical practice, including refined assessments based on synergistic approaches not allowed by other methods and the availability of novel models. Finally, neural substrates of muscle synergies are discussed, and possible future research directions are proposed.

CONCLUSIONS

This review provides new perspectives about the challenges and open issues that need to be addressed in future work to achieve a better understanding of motor impairments and rehabilitative therapy using muscle synergies. These include the application of the methods on wider scales, standardization of procedures, inclusion of synergies in the clinical decisional process, assessment of temporal coefficients and temporal-based models, extensive work on the algorithms and understanding of the physio-pathological mechanisms of pathology, as well as the application and adaptation of synergy-based approaches to various rehabilitative scenarios for increasing the available evidence.

Muscle Synergies in People With Chronic Ankle Instability During Anticipated and Unanticipated Landing-Cutting Tasks

CONTEXT

Although neuromuscular deficits in people with chronic ankle instability (CAI) have been identified, previous researchers have mostly investigated the activation of multiple muscles in isolation. Investigating muscle synergies in people with CAI would provide information about the coordination and control of neuromuscular activation strategies and could supply important information for understanding and rehabilitating neuromuscular deficits in this population.

OBJECTIVE

To assess and compare muscle synergies using nonnegative matrix factorization in people with CAI and healthy control individuals as they performed different landing-cutting tasks.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Laboratory.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS

A total of 11 people with CAI (5 men, 6 women; age = 22 ± 3 years, height = 1.68 ± 0.11 m, mass = 69.0 ± 19.1 kg) and 11 people without CAI serving as a healthy control group (5 men, 6 women; age = 23 ± 4 years, height = 1.74 ± 0.11 m, mass = 66.8 ± 15.5 kg) participated.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)

Muscle synergies were extracted from electromyography of the lateral gastrocnemius, medial gastrocnemius, fibularis longus, soleus, and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles during anticipated and unanticipated landing-cutting tasks. The number of synergies, activation coefficients, and muscle-specific weighting coefficients were compared between groups and across tasks.

RESULTS

The number of muscle synergies was the same for each group and task. The CAI group exhibited greater TA weighting coefficients in synergy 1 than the control group (P = .02). In addition, both groups demonstrated greater fibularis longus (P = .03) weighting coefficients in synergy 2 during the unanticipated landing-cutting task than the anticipated landing-cutting task.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that, although both groups used neuromuscular control strategies of similar complexity or dimensionality to perform the landing-cutting tasks, the CAI group displayed different muscle-specific weightings characterized by greater emphasis on TA function in synergy 1, which may reflect an effort to increase joint stability to compensate for ankle instability.

Nonlinear functional muscle network based on information theory tracks sensorimotor integration post stroke

Sensory information is critical for motor coordination. However, understanding sensorimotor integration is complicated, especially in individuals with impairment due to injury to the central nervous system. This research presents a novel functional biomarker, based on a nonlinear network graph of muscle connectivity, called InfoMuNet, to quantify the role of sensory information on motor performance. Thirty-two individuals with post-stroke hemiparesis performed a grasp-and-lift task, while their muscle activity from 8 muscles in each arm was measured using surface electromyography. Subjects performed the task with their affected hand before and after sensory exposure to the task performed with the less-affected hand. For the first time, this work shows that InfoMuNet robustly quantifies changes in functional muscle connectivity in the affected hand after exposure to sensory information from the less-affected side. > 90% of the subjects conformed with the improvement resulting from this sensory exposure. InfoMuNet also shows high sensitivity to tactile, kinesthetic, and visual input alterations at the subject level, highlighting its potential use in precision rehabilitation interventions.

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation-Based Physical Therapy on the Improvement of Balance and Gait in Patients with Chronic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The present study aims to determine the potential benefits of PNF on balance and gait function in patients with chronic stroke by using a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic review in the following databases: MEDLINE/PubMed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. Studies up to September 2020 are included. A systematic database search was conducted for randomized control trials (RCTs) that investigated the effects of PNF intervention in patients with chronic stroke using balance and gait parameters as outcome measures. The primary outcomes of interest were Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Functional Reach Test (FRT), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) and 10-Meter Walking Test (10MWT). Nineteen studies with 532 participants were included, of which twelve studies with 327 participants were included for meta-analysis. When the data were pooled, PNF made statistically significant improvements in balance with BBS, FRT and TUG (p < 0.05) or gait velocity with 10MWT (p < 0.001) when compared to the control. This review indicates that PNF is a potential treatment strategy in chronic stroke rehabilitation on balance and gait speed. Further high-quality research is required for concluding a consensus of intervention and research on PNF.

Evidence for shared neural information between muscle synergies and corticospinal efficacy

Stroke survivors often exhibit gait dysfunction which compromises self-efficacy and quality of life. Muscle Synergy Analysis (MSA), derived from electromyography (EMG), has been argued as a method to quantify the complexity of descending motor commands and serve as a direct correlate of neural function. However, controversy remains regarding this interpretation, specifically attribution of MSA as a neuromarker. Here we sought to determine the relationship between MSA and accepted neurophysiological parameters of motor efficacy in healthy controls, high (HFH), and low (LFH) functioning stroke survivors. Surface EMG was collected from twenty-four participants while walking at their self-selected speed. Concurrently, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was administered, during walking, to elicit motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in the plantarflexor muscles during the pre-swing phase of gait. MSA was able to differentiate control and LFH individuals. Conversely, motor neurophysiological parameters, including soleus MEP area, revealed that MEP latency differentiated control and HFH individuals. Significant correlations were revealed between MSA and motor neurophysiological parameters adding evidence to our understanding of MSA as a correlate of neural function and highlighting the utility of combining MSA with other relevant outcomes to aid interpretation of this analysis technique.

Is modular control related to functional outcomes in individuals with knee osteoarthritis and following total knee arthroplasty?

BACKGROUND

Individuals who undergo total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for treatment of knee osteoarthritis often experience suboptimal outcomes. Investigation of neuromuscular control strategies in these individuals may reveal factors that contribute to these functional deficits. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the relationship between patient function and modular control during gait before and after TKA.

METHODS

Electromyography data from 36 participants (38 knees) were collected from 8 lower extremity muscles on the TKA-involved limb during ≥5 over-ground walking trials before (n = 30), 6-months after (n = 26), and 24-months after (n = 13) surgery. Muscle modules were estimated using non-negative matrix factorization. The number of modules was determined from 500 resampled trials.

RESULTS

A higher number of modules was related to better performance-based and patient-reported function before and 6-months after surgery. Participants with organization similar to healthy, age-matched controls trended toward better function 24-months after surgery, though these results were not statistically significant. We also observed plasticity in the participants' modular control strategies, with 100% of participants who were present before and 24-months after surgery (10/10) demonstrating changes in the number of modules and/or organization of at least 1 module.

CONCLUSIONS

This pilot work suggests that functional improvements following TKA may initially present as increases in the number of modules recruited during gait. Subsequent improvements in function may present as improved module organization.

NOTEWORTHY

This work is the first to characterize motor modules in TKA both before and after surgery and to demonstrate changes in the number and organization of modules over the time course of recovery, which may be related to changes in patient function. The plasticity of modular control following TKA is a key finding which has not been previously documented and may be useful in predicting or improving surgical outcomes through novel rehabilitation protocols.

Merged swing-muscle synergies and their relation to walking characteristics in subacute post-stroke patients: An observational study

In post-stroke patients, muscle synergy (the coordination of motor modules during walking) is impaired. In some patients, the muscle synergy termed module 1 (hip/knee extensors) is merged with module 2 (ankle plantar flexors), and in other cases, module 1 is merged with module 4 (knee flexors). However, post-stroke individuals with a merging pattern of module 3 (hip flexor and ankle dorsiflexor) and module 4, which is the swing-muscle synergy, have not been reported. This study aimed to determine the muscle-synergy merging subtypes of post-stroke during comfortable walking speed (cws). We also examined the effect of experimental lower-limb angle modulation on the muscle synergy patterns of walking in each subtype. Forty-one participants were assessed under three conditions: cws, long stepping on the paretic side (p-long), and long stepping on the non-paretic side (np-long). Lower-limb flexion and extension angles and the electromyogram were measured during walking. Subtype classification was based on the merging pattern of the muscle synergies, and we examined the effect of different lower-limb angles on the muscle synergies. We identified three merging subtypes: module 1 with module 2 (subtype 1), module 1 with module 4 (subtype 2), and module 3 with module 4 (subtype 3). In the cws condition, the lower-limb flexion angle was reduced in subtype 3, and the lower-limb extension angle was decreased in subtype 1. A more complex muscle synergy was observed only in subtype 3 in the p-long condition versus cws (p = 0.036). This subtype classification of walking impairments based on the merging pattern of the muscle synergies could be useful for the selection of a rehabilitation strategy according to the individual’s particular neurological condition. Rehabilitation with increased lower-limb flexion may be effective for the training of patients with merging of modules 3 and 4 in comfortable walking.

Effects of age and knee osteoarthritis on the modular control of walking: A pilot study

Background

Older adults and individuals with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) often exhibit reduced locomotor function and altered muscle activity. Identifying age- and KOA-related changes to the modular control of gait may provide insight into the neurological mechanisms underlying reduced walking performance in these populations. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if the modular control of walking differs between younger and older adults without KOA and adults with end-stage KOA.

Methods

Kinematic, kinetic, and electromyography data were collected from ten younger (23.5 ± 3.1 years) and ten older (63.5 ± 3.4 years) adults without KOA and ten adults with KOA (64.0 ± 4.0 years) walking at their self-selected speed. Separate non-negative matrix factorizations of 500 bootstrapped samples determined the number of modules required to reconstruct each participant’s electromyography. One-way Analysis of Variance tests assessed the effect of group on walking speed and the number of modules. Kendall rank correlations (τ_b) assessed the association between the number of modules and self-selected walking speed.

Results

The number of modules required in the younger adults (3.2 ± 0.4) was greater than in the individuals with KOA (2.3 ± 0.7; p = 0.002), though neither cohorts’ required number of modules differed significantly from the unimpaired older adults (2.7 ± 0.5; p ≥ 0.113). A significant association between module number and walking speed was observed (τ_b = 0.350, p = 0.021) and individuals with KOA walked significantly slower (0.095 ± 0.21 m/s) than younger adults (1.24 ± 0.15 m/s; p = 0.005). Individuals with KOA also exhibited altered module activation patterns and composition (which muscles are associated with each module) compared to unimpaired adults.

Conclusion

These findings suggest aging alone may not significantly alter modular control; however, the combined effects of knee osteoarthritis and aging may together impair the modular control of gait.

Intra-Subject and Inter-Subject Movement Variability Quantified with Muscle Synergies in Upper-Limb Reaching Movements

Quantifying movement variability is a crucial aspect for clinical and laboratory investigations in several contexts. However, very few studies have assessed, in detail, the intra-subject variability across movements and the inter-subject variability. Muscle synergies are a valuable method that can be used to assess such variability. In this study, we assess, in detail, intra-subject and inter-subject variability in a scenario based on a comprehensive dataset, including multiple repetitions of multi-directional reaching movements. The results show that muscle synergies are a valuable tool for quantifying variability at the muscle level and reveal that intra-subject variability is lower than inter-subject variability in synergy modules and related temporal coefficients, and both intra-subject and inter-subject similarity are higher than random synergy matching, confirming shared underlying control structures. The study deepens the available knowledge on muscle synergy-based motor function assessment and rehabilitation applications, discussing their applicability to real scenarios.

Motor Cortical Network Flexibility is Associated With Biomechanical Walking Impairment in Chronic Stroke

Background: The inability to flexibly modulate motor behavior with changes in task demand or environmental context is a pervasive feature of motor impairment and dysfunctional mobility after stroke. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the reactive and modulatory capacity of lower-limb primary motor cortical (M1) networks using electroencephalography (EEG) measures of cortical activity evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and to evaluate their associations with clinical and biomechanical measures of walking function in chronic stroke. Methods: TMS assessments of motor cortex excitability were performed during rest and active ipsilateral plantarflexion in chronic stroke and age-matched controls. TMS-evoked motor cortical network interactions were quantified with simultaneous EEG as the post-TMS (0-300 ms) beta (15-30 Hz) coherence between electrodes overlying M1 bilaterally. We compared TMS-evoked coherence between groups during rest and active conditions and tested associations with poststroke motor impairment, paretic propulsive gait deficits, and the presence of paretic leg motor evoked potentials (MEPs). Results: Stroke (n = 14, 66 ± 9 years, F = 4) showed lower TMS-evoked cortical coherence and activity-dependent modulation compared to controls (n = 9, 68 ± 6 years, F = 3). Blunted reactivity and atypical modulation of TMS-evoked coherence were associated with lower paretic ankle moments for propulsive force generation during walking and absent paretic MEPs. Conclusions: Impaired flexibility of motor cortical networks to react to TMS and modulate during motor activity is distinctly associated with paretic limb biomechanical walking impairment, and may provide useful insight into the neuromechanistic underpinnings of chronic post-stroke mobility deficits.

Young adults recruit similar motor modules across walking, turning, and chair transfers

Moving about in the world during daily life requires executing and successfully shifting between a variety of functional tasks, such as rising from a chair or bed, walking, turning, and navigating stairs. Moreover, moving about during daily life requires not only navigating between different functional tasks, but also performing these tasks in the presence of mental distractions. However, little is known about underlying neuromuscular control for executing and shifting between these different tasks. In this study, we investigated muscle coordination across walking, turning, and chair transfers by applying motor module (a.k.a. muscle synergy) analysis to the Timed-Up-and-Go (TUG) test with and without a secondary cognitive dual task. We found that healthy young adults recruit a small set of common motor modules across the subtasks of the TUG test and that their composition is robust to cognitive distraction. Instead, cognitive distraction impacted motor module activation timings such that they became more consistent. This work is the first to demonstrate motor module generalization across multiple tasks that are both functionally different and crucial for healthy mobility. Overall, our results suggest that the central nervous system may draw from a "library" of modular control strategies to navigate the variety of movements and cognitive demands required of daily life.

Assessment of turning performance and muscle coordination in individuals post-stroke

Turning is an important activity of daily living and often compromised post-stroke. The fall rate for individuals post-stroke while turning is nearly four times as high compared to healthy adults, with most falls resulting in injury. Thus, there is a need for evidence-based rehabilitation targets to improve turning performance for individuals post-stroke. To produce well-coordinated movements, muscles can be organized into muscle modules (i.e., groups of co-excited muscles). Post-stroke these modules can be merged, leading to impaired muscle coordination and walking performance. However, the relationship between impaired coordination and turning performance is not well understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of impaired muscle coordination (i.e., merged modules) on turning performance (i.e., time and number of steps required to complete a turn, and smoothness and balance control during the turn). Individuals post-stroke and healthy controls performed three tasks including overground straight-line walking, a 90-degree turn, and a 180-degree turn. The number of muscle modules during straight-line walking were determined using non-negative matrix factorization. During 180-degree turning, those with two modules took longer to turn, used more steps and had less smooth movement. Those with reduced module complexity exhibited diminished balance control during both 90-degree and 180-degree turning. These results suggest obtaining independent modules should be an important aim in locomotor therapies aimed at improving turning performance. In addition, the time it takes to complete a 180-degree turn may provide useful clinical insight into impaired muscle coordination post-stroke.

Generalization of motor module recruitment across standing reactive balance and walking is associated with beam walking performance in young adults

BACKGROUND

Recent studies provide compelling evidence that recruiting a common pool of motor modules across behaviors (i.e., motor module generalization) may facilitate motor performance. In particular, motor module generalization across standing reactive balance and walking is associated with both walking speed and endurance in neurologically impaired populations (e.g., stroke survivors and individual's with Parkinson's disease). To test whether this phenomenon is a general neuromuscular strategy associated with well-coordinated walking and not limited to motor impairment, this relationship must be confirmed in neurologically intact adults.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Is motor module generalization across standing reactive balance and walking related to walking performance in neurologically intact young adults?

METHODS

Two populations of young adults were recruited to capture a wide range of walking performance: professionally-trained ballet dancers (i.e., experts, n = 12) and novices (n = 8). Motor modules (a.k.a. muscle synergies) were extracted from muscles spanning the trunk, hip, knee and ankle during walking and multidirectional perturbations to standing. Motor module generalization was calculated as the number of modules common to these behaviors. Walking performance was assessed using self-selected walking speed and beam-walking proficiency (i.e., distance walked on a narrow beam). Motor module generalization between experts and novices was compared using rank-sum tests and the association between generalization and walking performance was assessed using correlation analyses.

RESULTS

Experts generalized more motor modules across standing reactive balance and walking than novices (p = 0.009). Across all subjects, motor module generalization was moderately associated with increased beam walking proficiency (r = 0.456, p = 0.022) but not walking speed (r = 0.092, p = 0.349).

SIGNIFICANCE

Similar relationships between walking performance and motor module generalization exist in neurologically intact and impaired populations, suggesting that motor module generalization across standing reactive balance and walking may be a general neuromuscular mechanism contributing to the successful control of walking.

Improved Gait of Persons With Multiple Sclerosis After Rehabilitation: Effects on Lower Limb Muscle Synergies, Push-Off, and Toe-Clearance

Introduction: Persons with MS (PwMS) have markedly reduced push-off and toe-clearance during gait compared to healthy subjects (HS). These deficits may result from alterations in neuromotor control at the ankle. To optimize rehabilitation interventions for PwMS, a crucial step is to evaluate if and how altered neuromotor control, as represented by muscle synergies, improves with rehabilitation. In this study we investigated changes in ankle motor control and associated biomechanical parameters during gait in PwMS, occurring with increase in speed after gait rehabilitation. Methods: 3D motion and EMG data were collected while 11 PwMS (age 50.3 + 11.1; EDSS 5.2 + 1.2) walked overground at self-selected speed before (T0) and after 20 sessions (T1) of intensive treadmill training. Muscle synergies were extracted using non-negative matrix factorization. Gait parameters were computed according to the LAMB protocol. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the similarity of motor modules between PwMS and HS. To assess differences in distal module activations representing neuromotor control at the ankle [Forward Propulsion (FPM) and Ground Clearance modules (GCM)], each module's activation timing was integrated over 100% of the gait cycle and the activation percentage index (API) was computed in six phases. Ten age matched HS provided two separate speed-matched normative datasets for T0 and T1. For speed independent comparison for the PwMs Z scores were calculated for all their gait variables. Results: In PwMS velocity increased significantly from T0 to T1 (0.74-0.90 m/s, p < 0.05). The activation profiles (API) of FPM and GCM of PwMS improved in pre-swing (p < 0.05): FPM (Mean [95% CI] [%]: T0: 12.5 [5.7-19.3] vs. T1: 9.0 [2.7-15.3]); GCM (T0: 26.7 [18.2-35.3] vs. T1: 24.5 [18.2-30.7]). This was associated with an increase in toe clearance (80.3 to 103.6 mm, p < 0.05) and a higher ankle power peak in pre-swing (1.53-1.93 W/kg, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Increased gait speed of PwMS after intensive gait training was consistent with improvements in spatio-temporal gait parameters. The most important finding of this study was the re-organization of distal leg modules related to neurophysiological changes induced by rehabilitation. This was associated with an improved ankle performance.

Reorganization of motor modules for standing reactive balance recovery following pyridoxine-induced large-fiber peripheral sensory neuropathy in cats

Task-level goals such as maintaining standing balance are achieved through coordinated muscle activity. Consistent and individualized groupings of synchronously activated muscles can be estimated from muscle recordings in terms of motor modules or muscle synergies, independent of their temporal activation. The structure of motor modules can change with motor training, neurological disorders, and rehabilitation, but the central and peripheral mechanisms underlying motor module structure remain unclear. To assess the role of peripheral somatosensory input on motor module structure, we evaluated changes in the structure of motor modules for reactive balance recovery following pyridoxine-induced large-fiber peripheral somatosensory neuropathy in previously collected data in four adult cats. Somatosensory fiber loss, quantified by postmortem histology, varied from mild to severe across cats. Reactive balance recovery was assessed using multidirectional translational support-surface perturbations over days to weeks throughout initial impairment and subsequent recovery of balance ability. Motor modules within each cat were quantified by non-negative matrix factorization and compared in structure over time. All cats exhibited changes in the structure of motor modules for reactive balance recovery after somatosensory loss, providing evidence that somatosensory inputs influence motor module structure. The impact of the somatosensory disturbance on the structure of motor modules in well-trained adult cats indicates that somatosensory mechanisms contribute to motor module structure, and therefore may contribute to some of the pathological changes in motor module structure in neurological disorders. These results further suggest that somatosensory nerves could be targeted during rehabilitation to influence pathological motor modules for rehabilitation.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Stable motor modules for reactive balance recovery in well-trained adult cats were disrupted following pyridoxine-induced peripheral somatosensory neuropathy, suggesting somatosensory inputs contribute to motor module structure. Furthermore, the motor module structure continued to change as the animals regained the ability to maintain standing balance, but the modules generally did not recover pre-pyridoxine patterns. These results suggest changes in somatosensory input and subsequent learning may contribute to changes in motor module structure in pathological conditions.