"In this study we investigate the muscle coordination underlying the execution of a pedaling exercise across different biomechanical demands, by using the muscle synergies paradigm. 9 non professional subjects performed a cycling exercise using their preferred pedaling strategy (Preferred Strategy, PS) and then, through the use of a feedback based on the presentation of a real-time index of mechanical efficiency determined by means of instrumented pedals, they were helped to optimize their pedaling technique (Effective Strategy, ES). EMG activity was recorded from 8 muscles of the dominant leg. Nonnegative Matrix Factorization was applied for the extraction of muscle synergies. 4 modules were sufficient to reconstruct the repertoire of muscle activations for all the subjects during PS condition, and these modules were found consistent across all the subjects (correlation >; 83%). 5 muscle synergies were necessary for the characterization in ES condition; 4 out of these modules were shared with PS condition, and the resulting additional module appeared subject-specific. These preliminary results support the existence of a modular motor control in humans."
DE MARCHIS, C., Castronovo, A.M., Bibbo, D., Schmid, M., Conforto, S. (2012). Muscle Synergies are Consistent when Pedaling under Different Biomechanical Demands. In Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS (pp.3308-3311) [10.1109/EMBC.2012.6346672].
Muscle Synergies are Consistent when Pedaling under Different Biomechanical Demands
DE MARCHIS, CRISTIANO;BIBBO, DANIELE;SCHMID, Maurizio;CONFORTO, SILVIA
2012-01-01
Abstract
"In this study we investigate the muscle coordination underlying the execution of a pedaling exercise across different biomechanical demands, by using the muscle synergies paradigm. 9 non professional subjects performed a cycling exercise using their preferred pedaling strategy (Preferred Strategy, PS) and then, through the use of a feedback based on the presentation of a real-time index of mechanical efficiency determined by means of instrumented pedals, they were helped to optimize their pedaling technique (Effective Strategy, ES). EMG activity was recorded from 8 muscles of the dominant leg. Nonnegative Matrix Factorization was applied for the extraction of muscle synergies. 4 modules were sufficient to reconstruct the repertoire of muscle activations for all the subjects during PS condition, and these modules were found consistent across all the subjects (correlation >; 83%). 5 muscle synergies were necessary for the characterization in ES condition; 4 out of these modules were shared with PS condition, and the resulting additional module appeared subject-specific. These preliminary results support the existence of a modular motor control in humans."I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
