ArticleThe Journal of physiology2021
Intermuscular coherence analysis in older adults reveals that gait-related arm swing drives lower limb muscles via subcortical and cortical pathways.
Article in The Journal of physiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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15 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of Neuromuscular Control Characteristics in Forehand Stroke Between International- and National-Level Squash Players: An sEMG-Based Analysis of Muscle Synergy and Intermuscular Coherence.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Assessment of the influence of lower limb cycling on arm muscle coordination during upper limb cycling: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Freezing of Gait During Crawling: The Role of Four-Limb Coordination?Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2025Article
- Correlation analysis of upper limb muscle activation in the frequency domain in wheelchair fencers.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Modulating arm swing via haptic cueing alters interlimb neural coupling in older adults.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Gait Training of Healthy Older Adults in a Sitting Position using the Wearable Robot to Assist Arm-swing Rhythm, WALK-MATE ROBOT.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A New Measure for Quantifying Four-Limb Coordination of Human Gait Based on Mobility Sensors.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Lateralized modulation of cortical beta power during human gait is related to arm swing.iScience · 2024Article
- Dynamics of brain-muscle networks reveal effects of age and somatosensory function on gait.iScience · 2024Article
- Effect of Unilateral Shoulder Disorder on the Stance Phase of Human Gait.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2022Article
- A protocol to analyze the global literature on the clinical benefit of interlimb-coordinated intervention in gait recovery and the associated neurophysiological changes in patients with stroke.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Multisite Transcutaneous Spinal Stimulation for Walking and Autonomic Recovery in Motor-Incomplete Tetraplegia: A Single-Subject Design.Physical therapy · 2022Article
- Is there frequency-specificity in the motor control of walking? The putative differential role of alpha and beta oscillations.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2022Review
- The Efficacy of Interlimb-Coordinated Intervention on Gait and Motor Function Recovery in Patients with Acute Stroke: A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial Study Protocol.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Amble Gait EEG Points at Complementary Cortical Networks Underlying Stereotypic Multi-Limb Co-ordination.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
key pointsGait-related arm swing in humans supports efficient lower limb muscle activation, indicating a neural coupling between the upper and lower limbs during gait. Intermuscular coherence analyses of gait-related electromyography from upper and lower limbs in 20 healthy participants identified significant coherence in alpha and beta/gamma bands indicating that upper and lower limbs share common subcortical and cortical drivers that coordinate the rhythmic four-limb gait pattern. Additional directed connectivity analyses revealed that upper limb muscles drive and shape lower limb muscle activity during gait via subcortical and cortical pathways and to a lesser extent vice versa. The results provide a neural underpinning that arm swing may serve as an effective rehabilitation therapy concerning impaired gait in neurological diseases. ABSTRACT: Human gait benefits from arm swing, as it enhances efficient lower limb muscle activation in healthy participants as well as patients suffering from neurological impairment. The underlying neuronal mechanisms of such coupling between upper and lower limbs remain poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to examine this coupling by intermuscular coherence analysis during gait. Additionally, directed connectivity analysis of this coupling enabled assessment of whether gait-related arm swing indeed drives lower limb muscles. To that end, electromyography recordings were obtained from four lower limb muscles and two upper limb muscles bilaterally, during gait, of 20 healthy participants (mean (SD) age 67 (6.8) years). Intermuscular coherence analysis revealed functional coupling between upper and lower limb muscles in the alpha and beta/gamma band during muscle specific periods of the gait cycle. These effects in the alpha and beta/gamma bands indicate involvement of subcortical and cortical sources, respectively, that commonly drive the rhythmic four-limb gait pattern in an efficiently coordinated fashion. Directed connectivity analysis revealed that upper limb muscles drive and shape lower limb muscle activity during gait via subcortical and cortical pathways and to a lesser extent vice versa. This indicates that gait-related arm swing reflects the recruitment of neuronal support for optimizing the cyclic movement pattern of the lower limbs. These findings thus provide a neural underpinning for arm swing to potentially serve as an effective rehabilitation therapy concerning impaired gait in neurological diseases.
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