Agonist and Antagonist Activity During Voluntary Upper-Limb Movement in Patients with Stroke

Gowland, Carolyn; deBruin, Hubert; Basmajian, John V.; Plews, Nancy; Burcea, Ion

doi:10.1093/ptj/72.9.624

Cited by 217 publications

(109 citation statements)

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“…However, if rapid movements nevertheless cannot be implemented, a reduced use of neuronal elements is likely to be responsible (Rosenfalck and Andreassen, 1980). Recent studies have documented that decreased recruitment of agonist motor units rather than increased antagonist co-contraction predominates in hemiplegia (Gowland et al, 1992, Fellows et al, 1994. These developmental differences may explain the reduced speed of the abduction movement found in this study in patients as well as the relatively unaffected duration of anteversion.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 44%

Sequential muscle activation in the hemiparetic arm

Mucha¹

2004

South African Journal of Physiotherapy

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This study investigated the chronological activation sequence of multiple joint movements of the hemiparetic arm in patients with central hemiparesis compared to healthy test subjects.Twelve patients with central hemiparesis and eight healthy control subjects were studied. First, in rapid abduction movement of the upper limb, the electromyographic activities of the middle part of the deltoid muscle, the brachial biceps muscle and the extensor muscles of the fingers, were registered. Second, in rapid flexion of the arm, the electromyographic activities of the ventral part of the deltoid muscle, the brachial biceps muscle and the superficial flexor muscles of the fingers, were measured. From the EMG data registered, activation duration, activation latency and the innervation sequence were determined and compared between the patient group and the control group. In the patient group, a significant prolongation of the activation duration was shown only in abduction. However, the activation latency was significantly prolonged in both movements compared to healthy test subjects. In the innervation sequences, a simultaneous activation was most frequently shown in healthy subjects. In healthy subjects, the deltoid muscle also usually functioned as leading muscle, whereas there was sometimes a shift distally to the brachial biceps muscle in the hemiparetic patients. The speed of rapid multiple joint movements in hemiparetic extremities seems to be unaffected in certain movements (anteversion), in others (abduction) it seems to be significantly reduced. This, as well as the fact that the activation latency is significantly longer in the hemiparetic limbs should be taken into consideration when choosing rehabilitation exercises.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 44%

Sequential muscle activation in the hemiparetic arm

Mucha¹

2004

South African Journal of Physiotherapy

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“…Reduced agonist recruitment capacity, as a consequence of stroke, can prevent the completion of upper extremity tasks (Gowland et al 1992). Similarly, our results indicate that muscle weakness constrains the movement patterns available to the CNS because primary agonist muscles alone are not capable of generating the required execution torques.…”

Section: Stereotypical Compensatory Movement Strategy In the Paretic mentioning

confidence: 56%

Saturated Muscle Activation Contributes to Compensatory Reaching Strategies After Stroke

McCrea¹,

Eng²,

Hodgson³

2005

Journal of Neurophysiology

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. The control and execution of movement could potentially be altered by the presence of stroke-induced weakness if muscles are incapable of generating sufficient power. The purpose of this study was to identify compensatory strategies during a forward (sagittal) reaching task for 20 persons with chronic stroke and 10 healthy age-matched controls. We hypothesized that the paretic anterior deltoid would be maximally activated (i.e., saturated) during a reaching task and that task completion would require activation of additional muscles, resulting in compensatory movements out of the sagittal plane. For reaching movements by control subjects, joint motion remained largely in the sagittal plane and hand trajectories were smooth and direct. Movement characteristics of the nonparetic arm of stroke subjects were similar to control subjects except for small increases in the abduction angle and the percentage that anterior deltoid was activated. In contrast, reaching movements of the paretic arm of stroke subjects were characterized by increased activation of all muscles, especially the lateral deltoid, in addition to the anterior deltoid, with resulting shoulder abduction power and segmented and indirect hand motion. For the paretic arm of stroke subjects, muscle and kinetic compensations increased with impairment severity and weaker muscles were used at a higher percentage of their available muscle activity. These results suggest that the inability to generate sufficient force with the typical agonists involved during a forward reaching task may necessitate compensatory muscle recruitment strategies to complete the task.

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“…Clinically, muscle synergies have been associated with constraints on movement in motor deficit, for example the "pathological synergies" associated with stroke [40,41]. How can we reconcile this conception of muscle synergies with the above studies demonstrating healthy subjects using muscle synergies as a flexible, dextrous strategy?…”

Section: Muscle Synergiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuromechanics of muscle synergies for posture and movement

Ting

McKay

2007

Current Opinion in Neurobiology

372

251

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Recent research suggests that the nervous system controls muscles by activating flexible combinations of muscle synergies to produce a wide repertoire of movements. Muscle synergies are like building blocks, defining characteristic patterns of activation across multiple muscles that may be unique to each individual, but perform similar functions. The identification of muscle synergies has strong implications for the organization and structure of the nervous system, providing a mechanism by which task-level motor intentions are translated into detailed, low-level muscle activation patterns. Understanding the complex interplay between neural circuits and biomechanics that give rise to muscle synergies will be critical to advancing our understanding of neural control mechanisms for movement.

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Agonist and Antagonist Activity During Voluntary Upper-Limb Movement in Patients with Stroke

Cited by 217 publications

References 0 publications

Sequential muscle activation in the hemiparetic arm

Sequential muscle activation in the hemiparetic arm

Saturated Muscle Activation Contributes to Compensatory Reaching Strategies After Stroke

Neuromechanics of muscle synergies for posture and movement

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