Trunk stabilization during sagittal pelvic tilt: From trunk-on-pelvis to trunk-in-space due to vestibular and visual feedback

Paul van Drunen, Frans C T van der Helm, Jaap H. van Dieën, Riender Happee*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the human ability to stabilize the trunk in space during pelvic tilt. Upper body sway was evoked in kneeling-seated healthy subjects by angular platform perturbations with a rotation around a virtual lowback pivot point between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. To investigate motor control modulation, variations in task instruction (balance naturally or minimize trunk sway), vision (eyes open or closed), and perturbation bandwidth (from 0.2 up to 1, 3, or 10 Hz) were applied. Cocontraction and proprioceptive muscle spindle feedback were associated with minimizing low-back flexion/extension (trunk-on-pelvis stabilization), while vestibular and visual feedback were supposed to contribute to trunk-in-space stabilization. Trunk-in-space stabilization was only observed with the minimize trunk sway task instruction, while the task instruction to balance naturally led to trunk-on-pelvis stabilization with trunk rotations even exceeding the perturbations. This indicates that vestibular feedback is used when minimizing trunk sway but has only a minor contribution during natural trunk stabilization in the sagittal plane. The eyes open condition resulted in reduced global trunk rotations and increased global trunk reflexive responses, demonstrating effective visual contributions to trunk-inspace stabilization. On the other hand, increasing perturbation bandwidth caused a decreased feedback contribution leading to deteriorated trunk-in-space stabilization.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1381-1388
JournalJournal of Neurophysiology
Volume115
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Keywords

  • Lumbar spine
  • Muscle spindles
  • Postural control
  • System identification
  • Visual and vestibular feedback

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