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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control
08:12

Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control

Published on: September 11, 2019

Muscle synergies characterizing human postural responses.

Gelsy Torres-Oviedo1, Lena H Ting

  • 1The Wallace H Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, at Georgia Tech and Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322-0535, USA.

Journal of Neurophysiology
|July 27, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Human postural control relies on a few muscle synergies, not independent muscle activation. This study reveals a general neural strategy for coordinating muscles during balance tasks, applicable across individuals.

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Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control
08:12

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Published on: September 11, 2019

An Instrumented Pull Test to Characterize Postural Responses
12:18

An Instrumented Pull Test to Characterize Postural Responses

Published on: April 6, 2019

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06:21

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Published on: July 26, 2022

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Biomechanics
  • Motor Control

Background:

  • Postural control involves complex, coordinated muscle activation.
  • Previous research indicated few muscle synergies explain cat postural responses.
  • The neural strategy for human postural control remains less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if a limited set of muscle synergies underlies human postural control.
  • To determine if muscle synergies account for variability in automatic postural responses.
  • To explore if muscle synergies explain different postural strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of postural responses in 16 lower back and leg muscles during multidirectional support-surface translations.
  • Applied techniques to identify and quantify muscle synergies in nine healthy subjects.
  • Investigated intertrial variability by modulating muscle synergy activation.

Main Results:

  • Six or fewer muscle synergies were sufficient to replicate individual postural responses.
  • Identified muscle synergies aligned with known human ankle and hip strategies.
  • Modulating muscle synergy activity successfully reproduced intertrial variability in muscle activation patterns.
  • Most muscle synergies showed consistent composition and temporal activation across subjects.

Conclusions:

  • Muscle synergies represent a fundamental neural strategy for human postural control.
  • Variations in postural responses stem from amplitude modulation of these synergies.
  • This suggests a generalized neural framework for muscle coordination in balance.