ArticlePLoS computational biology2012
Challenges and new approaches to proving the existence of muscle synergies of neural origin.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 130 papers.
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Who cites it
130 citing papers in PubMed.
- Common inputs to motor units are modulated by force profile and muscle length.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Neuromotor modules revealed by direct electrical stimulation of the human primary motor cortex.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Characterization of Muscle Synergies During Activities of Daily Living Using Surface EMG: A Functional Reference for Neuromuscular Assessment.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- A modular architecture for trial-by-trial learning of redundant muscle activity patterns in novel sensorimotor tasks.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Inhibitory circuits control leg movements duringeLife · 2026Article
- Inhibitory circuits control leg movements duringbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- A single low-dimensional neural component of spinal motor neuron activity explains force generation across repetitive isometric tasks.iScience · 2025Article
- Exploring the cortical involvement in sensorimotor integration during early stages of independent walking.Experimental brain research · 2025Article
- A theory of brain-computer interface learning via low-dimensional control.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Intermuscular coherence during arm movement changes significantly with shoulder abduction and age, but not with limb dominance.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Muscle synergies in upper limb stroke rehabilitation: a scoping review.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2024Article
- The Volitional Control of Individual Motor Units Is Constrained within Low-Dimensional Neural Manifolds by Common Inputs.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Motor learning in multijoint virtual arm movements with novel kinematics.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Direction-Specific Changes in Trunk Muscle Synergies in Individuals With Extension-Related Low Back Pain.Cureus · 2024Article
- Muscle synergies are associated with intermuscular coherence and cortico-synergy coherence in an isometric upper limb task.Experimental brain research · 2023Article
- Epidural stimulation restores muscle synergies by modulating neural drives in participants with sensorimotor complete spinal cord injuries.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Muscle co-activation in the elderly contributes to control of hip and knee joint torque and endpoint force.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Motor control complexity can be dynamically simplified during gait pattern exploration using motor control-based biofeedback.Journal of neurophysiology · 2023Article
- Use of Surface Electromyography to Estimate End-Point Force in Redundant Systems: Comparison between Linear Approaches.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Muscle redundancy is greatly reduced by the spatiotemporal nature of neuromuscular control.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2023Article
70 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Muscle coordination studies repeatedly show low-dimensionality of muscle activations for a wide variety of motor tasks. The basis vectors of this low-dimensional subspace, termed muscle synergies, are hypothesized to reflect neurally-established functional muscle groupings that simplify body control. However, the muscle synergy hypothesis has been notoriously difficult to prove or falsify. We use cadaveric experiments and computational models to perform a crucial thought experiment and develop an alternative explanation of how muscle synergies could be observed without the nervous system having controlled muscles in groups. We first show that the biomechanics of the limb constrains musculotendon length changes to a low-dimensional subspace across all possible movement directions. We then show that a modest assumption--that each muscle is independently instructed to resist length change--leads to the result that electromyographic (EMG) synergies will arise without the need to conclude that they are a product of neural coupling among muscles. Finally, we show that there are dimensionality-reducing constraints in the isometric production of force in a variety of directions, but that these constraints are more easily controlled for, suggesting new experimental directions. These counter-examples to current thinking clearly show how experimenters could adequately control for the constraints described here when designing experiments to test for muscle synergies--but, to the best of our knowledge, this has not yet been done.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.