A silent period in sural muscle occurring prior to the voluntary forward inclination of the body.
A silent period lasting for 300-500 msec was observed in triceps surae muscle when the subject inclined forward from the normal standing. This silent period preceded 100 msec or more the beginning of the body inclination and was terminated by an abrupt refiring in the midst of the body swing. The silence was not preceded by the increase in activity of the sural muscle itself or any other leg muscles studied. H-reflex in soleus was strongly inhibited or disappeared during the silent period, indicating that the excitability of the spinal motoneurons was greatly decreased during this period. These findings suggest that the silent period was not induced by some reflex activity in the spinal cord, but was caused by the inhibitory activity based on a central program on the spinal motoneurons.
D000328:Adult; D004576:Electromyography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006181:H-Reflex; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture