Quantitative analysis of motion control in long term microgravity.
In the frame of the 179-days EUROMIR '95 space mission, two in-flight experiments have foreseen quantitative three-dimensional human movement analysis in microgravity. For this aim, a space qualified opto-electronic motion analyser based on passive markers has been installed onboard the Russian Space Station MIR and 8 in flight sessions have been performed. Techhology and method for the collection of kinematics data are described, evaluating the accuracy in three-dimensional marker localisation. Results confirm the suitability of opto-electronic technology for quantitative human motion analysis on orbital modules and raise a set of "lessons learned", leading to the improvement of motion analyser performance with a contemporary swiftness of the on-board operations. Among the experimental program of T4, results of three voluntary posture perturbation protocols are described. The analysis suggests that a short term reinterpretation of proprioceptive information and re-calibration of sensorimotor mechanisms seem to end within the first weeks of flight, while a continuous long term adaptation process allows the refinement of motor performance, in the frame of never abandoned terrestrial strategies.
Baroni
G
G
Dipartimento di Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. baroni@regolo.cbi.polimi.it
Ferrigno
G
G
Anolli
A
A
Andreoni
G
G
Pedotti
A
A
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006804:Ergonomics; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D013026:Space Flight; D014893:Weightlessness