Motor control and function

Question 1

What is the purpose of assessing motor control?

Answer 1

• Enables quantification of a person’s ability to perform targeted and controlled movements at a range of contraction levels.
• Assessing at multiple levels enables investigation of different motor unit pools, those recruited early (low threshold)/ and those recruited later (higher threshold)

Question 2

What 2 neural pathways are involved in peforming motor actions?

Answer 2

Motor - efferent
Sensory- afferent

Question 3

What age related adaptations of the CNS may result in older people having poor motor control than younger ?

Answer 3

• Reduced cortical excitability (motor cortex level)
• Impaired descending drive to motorneurons in the spinal cord (spinal level)

Question 4

What are the benefits of using programming language/ code for data analysis?

Answer 4

• Can be easily shared enabling replication of analysis
• Less prone to human error

Question 5

What is an isokinetic contraction?

Answer 5

Constant speed with variable force. Changing muscle length.

Question 6

What are the pros and cons of using the CYBEX (isokinetic dynamomemter) of max voluntary contraction?

Answer 6

Pros- highly accurate, ability to assess a range of contraction types, clear data output which is readily interpretable
Cons- large and expensive , not readily available to clinical populations

Question 7

What are the pros and cons of using the short physical performance battery (SPPB) test?

Answer 7

Pros - inexpensive and easy to apply, widely accessible and portable
Cons - only assessing one muscle group , may (not) be applicable to other muscles