Effects of wrist tendon vibration on arm tracking in people poststroke. J Neurophysiol 2011 Sep;106(3):1480-8
Date
06/24/2011Pubmed ID
21697444Pubmed Central ID
PMC3174817DOI
10.1152/jn.00404.2010Scopus ID
2-s2.0-80052584974 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 31 CitationsAbstract
The goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of wrist tendon vibration on a multijoint elbow/shoulder tracking task. We hypothesized that tendon vibration applied at the wrist musculature would improve upper arm tracking performance in chronic stroke survivors through increased, Ia-afferent feedback to the central nervous system (CNS). To test this hypothesis, 10 chronic stroke and 5 neurologically intact subjects grasped the handle of a planar robot as they tracked a target through a horizontal figure-8 pattern. A total of 36 trials were completed by each subject. During the middle trials, 70-Hz tendon vibration was applied at the wrist flexor tendons. Position, velocity, and electromyography data were evaluated to compare the quality of arm movements before, during, and after trials with concurrent vibration. Despite tracking a target that moved at a constant velocity, hand trajectories appeared to be segmented, displaying alternating intervals of acceleration and deceleration. Segments were identifiable in tangential velocity data as single-peaked, bell-shaped speed pulses. When tendon vibration was applied at the wrist musculature, stroke subjects experienced improved tracking performance in that hand path lengths and peak speed variability decreased, whereas movement smoothness increased. These performance improvements were accompanied by decreases in the muscle activity during movement. Possible mechanisms behind improved movement control in response to tendon vibration may include improved sensorimotor integration or improved cortical modulation of spinal reflex activity.
Author List
Conrad MO, Scheidt RA, Schmit BDAuthors
Robert Scheidt BS,MS,PhD Associate Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Marquette UniversityBrian Schmit PhD Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Marquette University
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultArm
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Proprioception
Psychomotor Performance
Stroke
Tendons
Vibration
Wrist
