The effect of gravity on the motor control of landing
(2016)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Abstract
- Landing from a fall is a complex action requiring the prediction of the instant of contact with the ground. Since humans have developed motor actions on Earth, the nervous system and the sensory input processing are optimized to the Earth’s gravity. The aim of this study is to assess human motor control of landing in different conditions of fall initiation, simulated gravity and sensory neural input. Hypergravity was simulated either on Earth with a Subject Loading System (SLS) generating a pull-down force or by turns of an aircraft generating centrifugal forces. Microgravity was simulated in a weightlessness environment during parabolic flights with the SLS. Kinetics, kinematics and muscular activity of the lower limb were recorded. Humans anticipate the contact with the ground, and are able to land and stabilize in all experimental conditions. The interaction with the ground can be illustrated by a stiff spring to resist the impact, which changes to a compliant spring associated with a damper to dissipate the energy. The otolithic system, even perturbed, contributes to the control of landing. Further investigations are still needed to determine the potential use of such landing tasks as countermeasure for preventing injury in sports and/or the detrimental effects of weightlessness induced by spaceflights in astronauts.
- Affiliations
UCLouvain SSS/IONS - Institute of NeuroScience UCLouvain SSS/IONS/COSY - Systems & cognitive Neuroscience
Citations
Gambelli, C. (2016). The effect of gravity on the motor control of landing. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/185081