Tatsuyuki Ohtsuki

Sequential muscle activity and its functional role in the upper extremity and trunk during overarm throwing

The proximal-to-distal segmental sequence has been identified in many sports activities, including baseball pitching and ball kicking. However, proximal-to-distal sequential muscle activity has not been identified. The aims of this study were to establish whether sequential muscle activity does occur and, if it does, to determine its functional role. We recorded surface electromyograms (EMGs) for 17 muscles from the upper extremity and abdomen during overarm throwing and detected the onset and peak times as indices of muscle activity. The following electromyographic properties were commonly identified in the participants. First, sequential muscle activity was observed from the scapular protractors to the shoulder horizontal flexors and from the shoulder horizontal flexors to the elbow extensor, but not from the elbow extensor to the wrist flexor or forearm pronator. Secondly, the external oblique contralateral to the throwing arm became activated before the ipsilateral external oblique. This sequence is considered to be very effective for the generation of high force and energy in the trunk. Thirdly, the ipsilateral external oblique began its activity almost at foot strike. Finally, the main activity of the rectus abdominis appeared just before the point of release.

Kinetic chain of overarm throwing in terms of joint rotations revealed by induced acceleration analysis

This study investigated how baseball players generate large angular velocity at each joint by coordinating the joint torque and velocity-dependent torque during overarm throwing. Using a four-segment model (i.e., trunk, upper arm, forearm, and hand) that has 13 degrees of freedom, we conducted the induced acceleration analysis to determine the accelerations induced by these torques by multiplying the inverse of the system inertia matrix to the torque vectors. We found that the proximal joint motions (i.e., trunk forward motion, trunk leftward rotation, and shoulder internal rotation) were mainly accelerated by the joint torques at their own joints, whereas the distal joint motions (i.e., elbow extension and wrist flexion) were mainly accelerated by the velocity-dependent torques. We further examined which segment motion is the source of the velocity-dependent torque acting on the elbow and wrist accelerations. The results showed that the angular velocities of the trunk and upper arm produced the velocity-dependent torque for initial elbow extension acceleration. As a result, the elbow joint angular velocity increased, and concurrently, the forearm angular velocity relative to the ground also increased. The forearm angular velocity subsequently accelerated the elbow extension and wrist flexion. It also accelerated the shoulder internal rotation during the short period around the ball-release time. These results indicate that baseball players accelerate the distal elbow and wrist joint rotations by utilizing the velocity-dependent torque that is originally produced by the proximal trunk and shoulder joint torques in the early phase.

Music performance anxiety in skilled pianists: effects of social-evaluative performance situation on subjective, autonomic, and electromyographic reactions

Music performance anxiety (MPA), or stage fright in music performance, is a serious problem for many musicians, because performance impairment accompanied by MPA can threaten their career. The present study sought to clarify on how a social-evaluative performance situation affects subjective, autonomic, and motor stress responses in pianists. Measurements of subjective state anxiety, heart rate (HR), sweat rate (SR), and electromyographic (EMG) activity of upper extremity muscles were obtained while 18 skilled pianists performed a solo piano piece(s) of their choice under stressful (competition) and non-stressful (rehearsal) conditions. Participants reported greater anxiety in the competition condition, which confirmed the effectiveness of stress manipulation. The HR and SR considerably increased from the rehearsal to competition condition reflecting the activation of sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, participants showed higher levels of the EMG magnitude of proximal muscles (biceps brachii and upper trapezius) and the co-contraction of antagonistic muscles in the forearm (extensor digitorum communis and flexor digitorum superficialis) in the competition condition. Although these responses can be interpreted as integral components of an adaptive biological system that creates a state of motor readiness in an unstable or unpredictable environment, they can adversely influence pianists by disrupting their fine motor control on stage and by increasing the risk of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Muscle activity and accuracy of performance of the smash stroke in badminton with reference to skill and practice

The aims of this study were to establish the temporal-spatial relationship between muscle activity and the smash stroke of skilled badminton players and to assess performance accuracy using the ellipse of constant distance. We recorded the surface electromyographic (EMG) activity of selected superficial muscles of the stroking arm and shoulder - flexor carpi ulnalis, extensor carpi radialis, triceps brachii (lateral head), biceps brachii and trapezius (upper) - during the badminton smash. In the first part of the study, we examined the characteristics of muscle function and performance accuracy of skilled and unskilled individuals during the badminton smash. Five welltrained badminton players and five students with no experience of badminton were asked to smash a shuttle as hard as they could towards a vertical square target 4 m away, repeating the stroke 30 times.In general, the skilled players showed a more constant time from peak electromyographic amplitude to impact. Immediately after impact, the electromyographic activity of the triceps brachii and flexor carpi radialis of the skilled players decreased; in the unskilled participants, however, it continued until well after impact. The area of the ellipse of constant distance and the off-target distance, which were used as indices of performance accuracy, were smaller for the skilled than for the unskilled participants. In the second part of the study, one skilled and one unskilled participant performed 100 trials a day for 6 days. The time from peak electromyographic amplitude to impact in the extensor carpi radialis and flexor carpi ulnalis was more variable in the unskilled than in the skilled participant even after 6 days of practice, but the proximal muscles of the unskilled participant had a similar pattern of activity to that of the skilled player. Thus, controlling the distal muscles appears to be important for achieving accurate performance of the smash in badminton.

EMG analysis of lower limb muscles in humans during quick change in running directions

Open and cross maneuvers for changing running direction were studied to characterize selective EMG activity between the maneuvers. Eleven subjects turned towards the right or the left during running. The gluteus medius modified foot trajectory of the leading leg during the open maneuver, whereas the sartorius worked modestly during the cross maneuver. Compared with the cross maneuver the open maneuver exhibited greater vastus medialis and gastrocnemius activity during the ground support phase, faster running speed and wider turning angle. These results suggest that the open maneuver is more effective than the cross maneuver for quickly changing running direction.

Tapping performance and underlying wrist muscle activity of non-drummers, drummers, and the world's fastest drummer

Studies of rapid unimanual tapping have assumed that the human rate limit for voluntary rhythmic movement is 5-7 Hz, which corresponds to an inter-tap interval (ITI) of 150-200ms. In fact, the winner of a recent contest to find the worlds fastest drummer (WFD) can perform such movements using a handheld drumstick at 10 Hz, which corresponds to an ITI of 100 ms. Because the contest measured only the number of taps by the WFD, we examined the stability of the ITI and the underlying wrist muscle activity of the WFD. By comparing the performance and wrist muscle activity of the WFD with those of two control groups (non-drummers (NDs) and ordinary skilled drummers (ODs)), we found that the WFD had a relatively stable ITI and more pronounced reciprocal wrist muscle activity during the 10-Hz performance. Our result indicates that very fast, stable tapping performance can be achieved by keeping the wrist joint compliant rather than stiff.

Variability and fluctuation in running gait cycle of trained runners and non-runners

The current study examined variability and fluctuation in the running gait cycle, focusing on differences between trained distance runners and non-runners. The two groups of participants performed treadmill running at 80%, 100%, and 120% of their preferred speed for 10 min. Stride-interval time-series were recorded during running using footswitches. The average preferred speed was significantly higher for the trained runners than for the non-runners. The trained runners showed significantly smaller variability of stride interval than did the non-runners, and at the same time the scaling exponent alpha evaluated by detrended fluctuation analysis tended to be smaller for the trained runners. These results suggest that expert runners can reduce variability in the trained movement without loosing dynamical degrees of freedom for spatiotemporal organization of the gait pattern.

Functional modification of agonist-antagonist electromyographic activity for rapid movement inhibition

Abstract Subjects made a fast elbow extension movement to designated target in response to a go signal. In 45% of trials a stop signal was presented after the go signal, to which subjects were asked to stop the movement as rapidly as possible. The interstimulus interval (ISI), or time interval between the go and stop signals, was randomly varied between 0 and 200 ms. Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from biceps brachii and triceps brachii. Subjects could sometimes completely inhibit initiation of the movements when the ISI was 0 ms, but could rarely do so when the ISI exceeded 100 ms. For responses that were initiated but stopped on the way, the amplitude of the movement decreased linearly as the time interval (=modification time) from the stop signal to EMG onset increased. The peak velocity increased linearly as the movement amplitude increased. This tendency was similar to those previously reported in step-tracking movements with various amplitudes. In spite of the similarity in the kinematics of the movement, the EMG pattern was different from that of step-tracking movement. While the initial agonist burst (AG1) decreased linearly after the modification time exceeded 100 ms, the antagonist burst (ANT) increased compared with the go trial for the modification time from 0 to 200 ms and decreased after the modification time exceeded 300 ms. This change of activation is analogous to functional modification of middle-latency reflex EMG response to load, or cutaneous perturbation. In conclusion, it is suggested that adaptive mechanisms, which would functionally modify the reflex responses, are also continuously working during voluntary movements in response to sudden changes in environmental information.

Coordination modes in sensorimotor synchronization of whole-body movement: a study of street dancers and non-dancers.

This study investigated whole-body sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) in street dancers and non-dancers. Two kinds of knee bending movement in a standing position to a metronome beat were explored in terms of stability under different movement frequencies: down-movement condition (knee flexion on the beat) and up-movement condition (knee extension on the beat). Analyses of phase relation between movement and beat revealed several distinct differences between the down- and up-movement conditions, and between dancers and non-dancers. In both groups under the up-movement condition, deviation from intended phase relation at higher beat rates, and enhanced fluctuations were observed. The deviation from intended phase relation under up-movement condition, and movement fluctuations were greater in non-dancers than in dancers. Moreover, subjective difficulty rating revealed that both groups felt that the up-movement condition was more difficult at higher beat rates. These findings suggest that down and up movements are two distinguishable coordination modes in whole-body coordination, and that street dancers have superior whole-body SMS ability.

Selective activation and deactivation of the human brain structures between speeded and precisely timed tapping responses to identical visual stimulus: an fMRI study.

We investigated the difference between brain activities in speeded and precisely timed responses to identical visual stimulus using fMRI. Stimulus used was a row of seven light-emitting diodes (LEDs) lightened up one after another with constant speed within a trial but with various speeds between trials. Subjects were asked to execute finger-thumb tapping with the right hand in response to the onset of the first LED light in the reaction time (RT) task and in anticipation of the onset of the last (i.e., seventh) LED light in the timing task. In control condition, they were asked to passively view the stimulus without motor response. Results showed that various movement-related areas including contralateral cingulate motor cortex were commonly activated for both tasks relative to the control condition, suggesting these structures are involved in general perception and response execution rather than specific function for speeded or precisely timed responses. In the RT task, the presupplementary motor area extending to the cingulate sulcus was activated more strongly than in the timing task probably to focus attention to the onset of the first LED light unpredictably presented after random foreperiods. The lateral occipital area extending to the temporo-parieto-occipital junction was activated more strongly in the timing task than in the RT task; the same area was deactivated in the RT task relative to the control condition. Auditory-related areas were also deactivated in the both tasks. This inter- and intramodal task-specific modification including deactivation underscores significance of the context for perception and action and can have an important role in dexterous or skilled performance.