Proprioceptive feedback: influence of intermuscular excitation and inhibition

Proprioceptive feedback from muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs (GTO) is widely exchanged between muscles in the lower limb. As a result, intermuscular proprioceptive feedback is believed to influence whole limb coordination. Active projects seek to advance understanding by identifying sensory feedback exchanged between functional muscle groups and examining the task-dependent functional role of individual reflex pathways.

Active projects are extending principles from animal studies to human subjects in an effort to better understand the distribution of excitatory and inhibitory feedback between muscles in the human lower limb. (NIH 1K01HD100588-01)

Schematic diagram illustrating muscle pairs and known projections from muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs evaluated in this study A, gastrocnemius (G) muscle has muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organ projections onto soleus (SOL) motoneurons (MN). B, flexor hallucis longus (FHL) has Golgi tendon organ projections onto G. C, medial gastrocnemius (MG) has muscle spindle projections onto lateral gastrocnemius (LG) and FHL has muscle spindle projections onto flexor digitorum longus (FDL).

from Lyle MA, and Nichols TR (2019). Evaluating intermuscular Golgi tendon organ feedback with twitch contractions. J Physiol 597(17):4627-4642. doi: 10.1113/JP277363