Rhythmic arm swing enhances patterned locomotor-like muscle activity in passively moved lower extremities.
The use of driven gait orthosis (DGO) has drawn attention in gait rehabilitation for patients after central nervous system (CNS) lesions. By imposing a passive locomotor-like kinematic pattern, the neural mechanisms responsible for locomotion can be activated as in a normal gait. To further enhance this activity, discussions on possible intervention are necessary. Given the possible functional linkages between the upper and lower limbs, we investigated in healthy subjects the degree of modification in the lower limb muscles during DGO-induced passive gait by the addition of swing movement in the upper extremity. The results clearly showed that muscle activity in the ankle dorsiflexor TA muscle was significantly enhanced when the passive locomotor-like movement was accompanied by arm swing movement. The modifications in the TA activity were not a general increase through the stride cycles, but were observed under particular phases as in normal gaits. Voluntary effort to swing the arms may have certain effects on the modification of the muscle activity. The results provide clinical implications regarding the usefulness of voluntary arm swing movement as a possible intervention in passive gait training using DGO, since ordinary gait training using DGO does not induce spontaneous arm swing movement despite its known influence on the lower limb movement.
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda Tokyo, Japan Department of Rehabilitation for the Movement Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan.
Tetsuya
T
Ogawa
College of Systems Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Minuma Saitama, Japan.
Takahiko
T
Sato
Department of Rehabilitation for the Movement Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan.
Toru
T
Ogata
College of Systems Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Minuma Saitama, Japan.
Shin-Ichiro
S
Yamamoto
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Meguro Tokyo, Japan.
Kimitaka
K
Nakazawa
Department of Rehabilitation for the Movement Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan kawashima-noritaka@rehab.go.jp.
Noritaka
N
Kawashima
Arm swing; Lokomat; locomotor‐like EMG; passive stepping