Motor control of every day motor tasks: guidance for neurological rehabilitation

This paper reports some of the research activities conducted at the Motor Control and Physical Therapy Laboratory aimed to understand the control of the coordination between posture and voluntary actions as reflected in the performance of everyday motor tasks in subject with normal and impaired motor control. Through multi-factorial analysis regarding the kinematics, ground reaction forces and muscle activity patterns (EMG), motor control variables critical for specific task performance are identified. Target-reaching in subjects after stroke and in children with cerebral palsy are discussed in some detail. Further, transfer skills in subjects with spinal cord injury as well as weight shift during gait initiation in young and elderly adults and during clinical balance testing are presented. The research findings are illuminated with respect to clinical implications in neurological rehabilitation, based on the motor control hypothesis.