Motoneurons are the final common pathway for every movement and muscle contraction. Located in the spinal cord, these neurons constantly receive and integrate thousands of tiny electrical signals from various parts of the central and peripheral nervous system. The end result: an action potential that travels down their axon and […]
Proprioception is the sense of the body’s own actions in space. Proprioception is disrupted in many clinical conditions such as dystonia, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. This disruption affects the ability of these individuals to produce “normal” movements. For years different paradigms have been used by researchers to examine proprioception. Dr. Lee […]
Ahead of the second annual Motor Impairment meeting, Simon Gandevia, Deputy Director of Neuroscience Research Australia, talks about Motor Impairment; what it is and what he and his colleagues at NeuRA are investigating as part of the NHMRC-funded program grant.
Ageing decreases exercise performance and is frequently accompanied by reductions in cognitive performance. Deterioration in the physiological capacity to stand, walk and exercise leads to falling over. This can signify a serious deterioration in sensorimotor control. In the elderly, falling leads to serious morbidity and mortality with major costs to society. […]
Have you ever been in a team environment where some people do the majority of the work while others site back, do nothing, yet still like to take the credit? My co-authors and I certainly have! In a recent study we noted that not all muscles of the human calf […]
Strength training consists of repetitive high-force muscle contractions. Strength training for four weeks improves maximal strength (Carroll et al. 2011). These strength gains are primarily the consequence of changes in the nervous system and are not simply due to an increase in muscle size (e.g., Weier et al. 2012). In […]
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic, progressive condition characterized by a loss of articular cartilage and leads to chronic pain, disability and psychological effects in adults living with the disease. As there is no cure, researchers are concerned with identifying modifiable factors that could improve physical and psychological functioning for adults […]
Poor balance is common in people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This can significantly impact on quality of life. The ability to generate a step quickly and accurately after a loss of balance is critical to avoid falling. The most effective medical treatment for PD (levodopa) seems to offer no benefit […]
Most of the time, our breathing is controlled involuntarily so that we don’t need to consciously think about breathing in and out all the time (for reviews, see Feldman & Del Negro, 2006; Richter & Smith, 2014). However, there are many instances where we need to voluntarily control how fast […]
Everyone experiences some degree of involuntary motion when trying to keep their hand still. Known as physiological tremor, the underlying mechanisms have been debated for over a century. Two explanations, neural and mechanical, are generally offered. The neural theory suggests that involuntary movements directly reflect oscillations in the control signal […]
