Faculty Collaboration Database

The Effect of Antagonist Muscle Sensory Input on Force Regulation. PLoS One 2015;10(7):e0133561

Date

07/18/2015

Pubmed ID

26186590

Pubmed Central ID

PMC4506057

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0133561

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84941348356 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   3 Citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand how stretch-related sensory feedback from an antagonist muscle affects agonist muscle output at different contraction levels in healthy adults. Ten young (25.3 ± 2.4 years), healthy subjects performed constant isometric knee flexion contractions (agonist) at 6 torque levels: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of their maximal voluntary contraction. For half of the trials, subjects received patellar tendon taps (antagonist sensory feedback) during the contraction. We compared error in targeted knee flexion torque and hamstring muscle activity, with and without patellar tendon tapping, across the 6 torque levels. At lower torque levels (5%, 10%, and 15%), subjects produced greater knee torque error following tendon tapping compared with the same torque levels without tendon tapping. In contrast, we did not find any difference in torque output at higher target levels (20%, 30%, and 40%) between trials with and without tendon tapping. We also observed a load-dependent increase in the magnitude of agonist muscle activity after tendon taps, with no associated load-dependent increase in agonist and antagonist co-activation, or reflex inhibition from the antagonist tapping. The findings suggest that at relatively low muscle activity there is a deficiency in the ability to correct motor output after sensory disturbances, and cortical centers (versus sub-cortical) are likely involved.

Author List

Onushko T, Schmit BD, Hyngstrom A

Authors

Allison Hyngstrom PhD Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy department at Marquette University
Brian Schmit PhD Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Marquette University

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Biomechanical Phenomena
Electromyography
Feedback, Sensory
Humans
Knee
Male
Motor Activity
Muscle, Skeletal
Range of Motion, Articular
Sensation
Torque