Neuromechanics

Human leg bones labeled

Lower limb neuromechanics is an interdisciplinary field which combines neuroscience and biomechanics to study human movement and its relation to the brain, specifically in limbs below the waist. Lower limbs consist of four parts: hip bone girdle, thigh, lower leg, and foot .
Muscles signals stimulated by neurological impulses are collected using electromyography (EMG). Leg muscles that are commonly recorded through EMG are the gluteus maximus, quadriceps femoris, rectus femoris, vastus medialis, soleus, lateral gastrocnemius, medial gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior.

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Background

Neuroscience

The components of the nervous system are outlined in the graph.

Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system. The nervous system is comprised of two sub-systems: the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system.

The peripheral nervous system is then composed of three sub-systems: the somatic nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, and the visceral nervous system . The autonomic nervous system is also broken down into the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, and the enteric nervous system. The nervous system responsible for voluntary motion, including lower limb motion, is the somatic nervous system. Though the somatic nervous system is part of the peripheral nervous system, motion also involves use of elements of the central nervous system: the brain and the spinal cord .

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Biomechanics

The graph shows the vertical ground reaction force of the left leg for a person walking. Stance phase is the first 60% of the gait cycle, and swing phase is the last 40% of the gait cycle.

Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of living systems such as humans, animals, and other organisms by means of mechanics. Lower limb biomechanics is concerned with the interactions of forces at the hip, knee, and ankle joints as well as the shear force and torsion on bone segments.

The gait cycle is a repetitive event that consists of one full step from heel-strike to the next heel-strike in the same foot. It can be divided into two phases: stance phase and swing phase. Stance phase consists of the time during which the heel strikes the ground to the point in time at which the toe leaves the ground. Swing phase consists of the rest of the gait cycle, the time between the toe leaving the ground to the next heel strike.

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Inverted Pendulum Theory

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In the inverted pendulum theory, the weight of the body is reduced to a center of mass resting on a massless leg at a single support. The ground reaction force travels from the center of pressure at the bottom of the massless leg to the center of mass at the top of the massless leg. The velocity vector of the center of mass is always perpendicular to the ground reaction force.

Electromyography

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Muscle Synergies

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Adaptation

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