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Bilateral force control and coordination patterns across upper and lower limbs.

Tae Lee Lee^1,2, Nyeonju Kang^1,2

¹Department of Human Movement Science, Incheon National University, Incheon, South Korea.

|November 12, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Upper and lower limbs show distinct patterns in bilateral force control and coordination. While force control abilities are linked between limbs, coordination patterns differ, suggesting unique motor control processes for each limb pair.

Keywords:

ankle-dorsiflexion bilateral force control hand-grip interlimb coordination isometric force control

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Motor Control
Biomechanics

Background:

Bilateral force control and coordination are crucial for daily activities.
Distinct motor networks may lead to different control patterns between upper and lower limbs.
Previous research has not directly compared bilateral force control and coordination between upper and lower limbs.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate differences in bilateral force control and coordination patterns between upper and lower limbs in healthy adults.
To compare force control performance (symmetry, accuracy, variability) and coordination (cross-correlation) between hands and ankles.
To examine the relationship between force control and coordination within and between upper and lower limbs.

Main Methods:

Thirty-two healthy young adults performed bilateral hand-grip and ankle-dorsiflexion tasks at 10% and 40% of maximal voluntary contraction.
Bilateral force control was assessed using mean force, symmetry, accuracy, and variability.
Bilateral force coordination was measured using cross-correlation with time lag, and relationships were analyzed with Pearson's correlation.

Main Results:

Lower limbs exhibited significantly less maximal and mean bilateral force compared to upper limbs.
At higher force levels, lower limbs showed lower force accuracy and variability than upper limbs.
Lower limbs displayed more negative correlation coefficient values, indicating different coordination patterns compared to upper limbs.

Conclusions:

Bilateral motor control and coordination patterns differ significantly between upper and lower limbs.
Force control performance is related between upper and lower limbs, but interlimb coordination patterns are not significantly correlated.
These findings suggest that while shared processes may influence individual motor control capabilities, distinct neural mechanisms underlie bilateral control and coordination in different limb pairs.