title: Reduced corticomotor excitability with cyclic passive movement: a study using transcranial magnetic stimulation.
abstract: Human voluntary movement involves the integration of kinaesthetic information with efferent motor activity during the planning and execution stages of movement. While much is known of the inhibitory and excitatory effects resulting from activation of specific kinaesthetic sensory receptors, in the present study we employed cyclic passive movement of the index finger in order to activate a range of kinaesthetic receptors in a manner that was intended to correspond to how these receptors might be active during a comparable voluntary movement. We intended to identify how this passive movement protocol might affect the excitability of the corticomotor pathway. During 1 Hz cyclic passive movement of the index finger there was an approximately 60% reduction in the amplitude of the motor evoked response from the first dorsal interosseous muscle. The results of the present study demonstrate that passive movement can have a profound effect on the excitability of the corticomotor pathway.
authors.affiliation: School of Physiotherapy, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia, Australia 6102. d.edwards@ecu.edu.au
authors.forename: Dylan J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Thickbroom
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Byrnes
authors.forename: Soumya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Frank L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Mastaglia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000294:innervation*; D006801:Humans; D007699:Kinesthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*