Gait and Mobility Flashcards
Essential Motor System Requirements for Gait
Progression
Postural Control
Adaptation
Progression
basic locomotor pattern producing/coordinating rhythmic patterns of muscle activity
Adaptation
accomplishing progression and postural control within changing task and environmental demands
ex: stop/start, changing direction, terrain changes
Central Pattern Generators
Individual Level Motor Control Mechanisms
- in SC, help generate basic rhythmic reciprocol movements underlying gait
ex: Spinalized Cat can step and also can adapt step cycle ot clear obstacles
Central Pattern Generator Half - Center Model
Each limb has own CPG
Tightly coupled agonist/antagonist inhibition
Fatigue process gradually reduces excitation in active half center which allows phase switching where excitation falls below a critical value and the opposing half center is released from inhibition
Descending Influences of Individual Motor Control Systems in Gait
necessary for bipedal gait
Connectivity of midbrain, cerebellar regions, and basal ganglia allows normal rhythmic gait, modulating afferent signals, and postural tone
Cortex allows for walking uneven terrain and use of vision as a modulator
T or F : Changes in passive properties of musculoskeletal system that occur with neuropathology or aging can influence gait (joint stability or movement efficiency)
True!
Passive Properties of Musculoskeletal System
Elasticity
Tensile Strength
Viscosity
T or F : Higher centers contribute to locomotion through feedforward modulation of patterns in response to goals of individual & environmental demands
True!
T or F : The Nervous system does not take into account non-neuromuscular forces in control of gait
False! The nervous system must interpret other forces to modulate gait
Describe Somatosensory Systems for the Individual in Gait
Hip flexor somatosensory feedback in terminal stance helps activate the Swing Phase of gait
Stretch Reflex from joint receptors & muscle spindle afferents stimulate rhythm-generating neurons to contribute to onset of Swing Phase and inhibit hip extensors
ex: re-learning gait with PWB on treadmill (treadmill provides hip extension for hip flexor stretch to initiate swing phase)
Vision for Sensory in Gait
Helps determine gait speed
Influence bodily alignment with gravity & environment
Visual monitoring increases on uneven surface
Vestibular for Sensory in Gait
Stabilizes the head (VOR)
Gait is organized in relation to control of gaze (top down organizaiton of control)
Cognitive Systems for Gait
Attentional processing resources vary depending on difficulty of cognitive and postural or locomotor task
ex:
sitting vs recovery from external perturbation
&
fastest reaction times to auditory stimulus in sitting, slowes in single-limb-support b/c takes more attentional resources
