title: Gait-dependent integration of neck muscle afferent input.
abstract: We investigated the integration of neck muscle afferents during walking and running. Subjects walked or ran straight ahead, with or without an additional mass (20% of body weight). They performed all trials without vibration and with continuous vibration (80 Hz) applied to the lateral aspect of the neck. Vibration systematically caused body deviation toward the side opposite to the stimulation. The amplitude of vibration-induced body deviations was dramatically larger for walking (21.6 +/- 4.6 degrees ) than for running (8.0 +/- 2.5 degrees ). The additional mass marginally straightened body trajectory (average 5.6%), indicating that the gait-dependent effect of neck vibration cannot solely be attributed to differences in body inertia between walking and running. We concluded that neck muscle afferences are selectively gated according to the gait performed.
authors.affiliation: ERM 207 INSERM Motricité and Plasticité, UFR STAPS, University de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. gregoire.courtine@u-bourgogne.fr
authors.forename: Grégoire
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Courtine
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papaxanthis
authors.forename: Davy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laroche
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pozzo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration