Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Postural adjustments in sitting humans following external perturbations: muscle activity and kinematics

  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There are several controversies concerning the organization and induction of postural adjustments in standing humans. Some investigators suggest the responses are triggered by somatosensory inputs (especially from the ankle in standing subjects), while others emphasize the vestibular input induced by head acceleration. We examined postural responses in sitting subjects in order to describe the muscle activation pattern during various perturbations and to test whether somatosensory or vestibular stimulation elicited the responses. The kinematics and EMG patterns in respons to perturbations caused by movements of the support surface were studied in adults. The postural muscle activation following a backward sway was mainly the same, whether it was elicited by a forward translation or a legs-up rotation. This is remarkable, since, except for pelvis rotation, the movements of all body segments including the head differed in the two conditions. Furthermore, a second experiment showed that the direction of the initial head movement could be reversed with retainment of the same postural muscle activation pattern. The results suggest that somatosensory signals derived from the backward rotation of the pelvis, and not vestibular information from the head, trigger postural responses during sitting. There was a slight but consistent difference in the muscle activation pattern, whether the backward sway was elicited by a forward translation or legs-up rotation. The difference seemed to reflect the sensory information from head and other body parts (except the pelvis). This finding allowed us to speculate in a central pattern generator for postural adjustments containing two levels. At the first level, a simple format of the muscle activation would be generated; at the second level, the centrally generated pattern could be shaped and timed by interaction from the entire somatosensory, vestibular, and visual input.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allum JHJ, Büdingen HJ (1979) Coupled stretch reflexes in ankle muscles: an evaluation of the contribution of active muscle mechanisms to human posture stability. Prog Brain Res 50:185–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Allum JHJ, Pfaltz CR (1985) Visual and vestibular contributions to pitch sway stabilization in the ankle muscles of normals and patients with bilateral peripheral vestibular deficits. Exp Brain Res 58:82–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Allum JHJ, Keshner EA, Honegger F, Pfaltz CR (1988) Statistical identification of the extent of a peripheral vestibular deficit using vestibulo-spinal reflex responses. Adv Otorhinolaryngol 42:65–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Amblard B, Cremieux J, Marchand AR, Carblanc A (1985) Lateral orientation and stabilization of human stance: static versus dynamic visual cues. Exp Brain Res 61:21–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein N (1967) The coordination and regulation of movements. Pergamon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Bizzi E, Accornero N, Chapple W, Hogan N (1984) Posture control and trajectory formation during arm movement. Neuroscience 4:2738–2744

    Google Scholar 

  • Bizzi E, Hogan N, Mussa-Ivaldi FA, Giszter S (1992) Does the nervous system use equilibrium-point control guide single and multiple joints movements? Behav Brain Sci 15:603–613

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandler SH, Nielsen SA, Goldberg LJ (1985) The effects of a glycine antagonist (strychnine) on cortically induced rhythmical jaw movements in the anesthesized guinea pig. Brain Res 325:181–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordo PJ, Nashner LM (1982) Properties of postural adjustments associated with rapid arm movements. J Neurophysiol 47:287–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener HC, Dichgans J, Bootz F, Bacher M (1984) Early stabilization of human posture after a sudden disturbance: influence of rate and amplitude of displacement. Exp Brain Res 56:126–134

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diener HC, Dichgans J (1986) Long loop reflexes and posture. In: Bles W, Brandt T (eds) Disorders of posture and gait. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 41–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener HC, Horak FB, Nashner LM (1988) Influence of stimulus parameters on human postural responses. J Neurophysiol 59:1888–1905

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz V (1987) Role of peripheral afferents and spinal reflexes in normal and impaired human locomotion. J Neurol 143:241–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz V, Horstmann GA, Trippel M, Gollhofer A (1989) Human postural reflexes and gravity: an under water stimulation. Neurosci Lett 106:350–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman AG (1966) Functional tuning of the nervous system with control of movement or maintenance of a steady posture. II. Controllable parameters of the muscles. Biofizika 11:498–508

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman AG (1974) Control of the length of the muscle. Biofizika 19:749–753

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman AG (1986) Once more on the equilibrium-point hypothesis (gamma model) for motor control. J Motor Behav 18:17–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman JL, Grillner S (1983) Control of vertebrate respiration and locomotion: A brief account. Physiologist 26:310–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferringo G, Pedotti A (1985) Elite: A digital dedicated hardware system for movement analysis via real-time TV signal processing. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng BME-32, 11:943–950

    Google Scholar 

  • Forssberg H, Nashner LM (1982) Ontogenetic development of postural control in man: adaptation to altered support and visual conditions during stance. J Neurosci 2:545–552

    Google Scholar 

  • Gollhofer A, Horstmann GA, Berger W, Dietz V (1989) Compensation of translational and rotational perturbations in human posture: stabilization of the centre of gravity. Neurosci Lett 105:73–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurfinkel VS, Lipshits MI, Mori S, Popov KE (1981) Stabilization of body position as the main task of postural regulation. Hum Physiol 7:155–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschfeld H, Forssberg H (1991) Phase-dependent modulations of anticipatory postural activity during human locomotion. J Neurophysiol 66:12–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschfeld H, Forssberg H (1992) Development of anticipatory postural adjustments during locomotion in children. J Neurophysiol 68:542–550

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan N (1985) The mechanics of multi-joint posture and movement control. Biol Cybern 52:315–331

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horak FB, Nashner LM (1986) Central programming of postural movements: adaptation to altered support-surface configurations. J Neurophysiol 55:1369–1381

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horak FB, Diener HC, Nashner LM (1989) Influence of central set on human postural responses. J Neurophysiol 62:841–853

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horak FB, Nashner LM, Diener HC (1990) Postural strategies associated with somatosensory and vestibular loss. Exp Brain Res 82:167–177

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keshner EA, Allum JHJ, Pfaltz CR (1987) Postural coactivation and adaptation in the sway stabilizing responses of normals and patients with bilateral vestibular deficit. Exp Brain Res 69:77–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Keshner EA, Woollacott MH, Debu B (1988) Neck, trunk and limb muscle responses during postural perturbations in humans. Exp Brain Res 71:455–466

    Google Scholar 

  • Koshland GF, Smith JL (1989) Mutable and immutable features of the paw-shake response after hindlimb deafferentiation in the cat. J Neurophysiol 62:162–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Lestienne FG, Gurfinkel VS (1988) Posture as an organizational structure based on a dual process: a formal basis to interpret changes of posture in weightlessness. Prog Brain Res 76:307–313

    Google Scholar 

  • Macpherson JM (1988) Strategies that simplify the control of quadrupedal stance. II. Electromyographic activity. J Neurophysiol 60:218–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Macpherson JM, Horak FB, Dunbar DC, Dow RC (1989) Stance dependence of automatic postural adjustments in humans. Exp Brain Res 78:557–566

    Google Scholar 

  • Massion J (1992) Movement, posture and equilibrium: interaction and coordination. Prog Neurobiol 38:35–56

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCollum G, Leen TK (1989) Form and exploration of mechanical stability limits in erect stance. J Mot Behav 21:225–244

    Google Scholar 

  • McGraw MB (1943) The neuro-muscular maturation of the human infant. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H (1964) Basic control patterns of orientational homeostasis. Symp Soc Exp Biol 18:365–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H (1983) A new solution to the problem of the subjective vertical. Naturwissenschaften 70:272–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H, Fricke E (1988) The relative effect of saccular and somatosensory information on spatial perception and control. Adv Otorhinolaryngol 42:24–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore S, Brunt D, Nesbitt ML, Juarez T (1992) Investigation of evidence for anticipatory postural adjustments in seated subjects who performed a reaching task. Phys Ther 72:335–343

    Google Scholar 

  • Nashner LM (1976) Adapting reflexes controlling the human posture. Exp Brain Res 26:59–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Nashner LM (1977) Fixed patterns of rapid postural responses among leg muscles during stance. Exp Brain Res 30:13–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Nashner LM, McCollum G (1985) The organization of human postural movements: a formal basis and experimental synthesis. Behav Brain Sci 8:135–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Woollacott MH, Hofsten C von, Rösblad B (1988) Relation between muscle response onset and body segmental movements during postural perturbations in humans. Exp Brain Res 72:593–604

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Karolinska Institute, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden

    H. Forssberg & H. Hirschfeld

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Karolinska Hospital, 17176, Stockholm, Sweden

    H. Forssberg & H. Hirschfeld

Authors
  1. H. Forssberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H. Hirschfeld
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Forssberg, H., Hirschfeld, H. Postural adjustments in sitting humans following external perturbations: muscle activity and kinematics. Exp Brain Res 97, 515–527 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00241545

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00241545

Key words

Search

Navigation