Spatiotemporal consistency of human mandibular and head-neck movement trajectories during jaw opening-closing tasks

Previous studies of spatial and temporal coordination between human mandibular and head-neck movements during single as well as rhythmic jaw opening-closing tasks suggest that these movements are regulated by central nervous commands common for jaw and neck muscles. The present study evaluated the spatiotemporal consistency of concomitant mandibular and head-neck movements during repeated single jaw opening-closing tasks, in short- as well as long-term perspectives and at different speeds. The subjects were seated in an upright position without head support. They were instructed to perform single maximal jaw opening-closing movements, repeated ten times for fast and slow speed, respectively. Recordings were made at two sessions. A wireless optoelectronic technique was used to record three-dimensional mandibular and head-neck movements. The spatiotemporal consistency of repeated movement trajectories of the mandible (both in relation to the head and in space) and of the head-neck was quantitatively assessed by a spatiotemporal index (STI). In addition, mean movement trajectory patterns were compared for speed and recording sessions (expressed as correlation coefficient, r). The results showed relatively small STI (high degree of spatiotemporal consistency) and high r (reproducible trajectory patterns) values, both in short- and long-term perspectives, for concomitant mandibular and head-neck movements. The data were not generally speed related. In conclusion, the present results suggest a high degree of spatiotemporal consistency of the kinematic patterns of mandibular and head-neck movements during jaw opening-closing, in short- as well as long-term perspectives. They also indicate that underlying neural processes are invariant in nature. The results give further support to the notion of a tight functional coupling between the human jaw and the neck motor systems during natural jaw function.