A dual-learning paradigm can simultaneously train multiple characteristics of walking

Abstract

Impairments in human motor patterns are complex: what is often observed as a single global deficit (e.g., limping when walking) is actually the sum of several distinct abnormalities. Motor adaptation can be useful to teach patients more normal motor patterns, yet conventional training paradigms focus on individual features of a movement, leaving others unaddressed. It is known that under certain conditions, distinct movement components can be simultaneously adapted without interference. These previous "dual-learning" studies focused solely on short, planar reaching movements, yet it is unknown whether these findings can generalize to a more complex behavior like walking. Here we asked whether a dual-learning paradigm, incorporating two distinct motor adaptation tasks, can be used to simultaneously train multiple components of the walking pattern. We developed a joint-angle learning task that provided biased visual feedback of sagittal joint angles to increase peak knee or hip flexion during the swing phase of walking. Healthy, young participants performed this task independently or concurrently with another locomotor adaptation task, split-belt treadmill adaptation, where subjects adapted their step length symmetry. We found that participants were able to successfully adapt both components of the walking pattern simultaneously, without interference, and at the same rate as adapting either component independently. This leads us to the interesting possibility that combining rehabilitation modalities within a single training session could be used to help alleviate multiple deficits at once in patients with complex gait impairments.

Explicit Control of Step Timing During Split-Belt Walking Reveals Interdependent Recalibration of Movements in Space and Time

“…Our study contributes to recent efforts to unveil the potential interaction between explicit corrections and implicit sensorimotor recalibration in locomotion (Malone et al, 2012; Long et al, 2016; Roemmich et al, 2016; Statton et al, 2016; Maeda et al, 2017). Interestingly, we found that preventing foot adjustments during split-belt walking significantly reduced post-adaptation effects compared to the control group.…”

Seeing the Errors You Feel Enhances Locomotor Performance but Not Learning

“…The visual feedback simply provided an additional channel of performance feedback that was used for voluntary correction. However, our prior work showed that visual feedback can drive gait adaptation when a visual prediction error is present, such as showing one leg flexing less than it actually does [29]. Participants adapted to that visual feedback by increasing flexion in the perturbed leg and subsequently showed aftereffects when the visual perturbation was removed.…”

Explicit control of step timing during split-belt walking reveals interdependent recalibration of movements in space and time

“…Our study contributes to recent efforts to unveil the potential interaction between explicit corrections and implicit sensorimotor recalibration in locomotion (Statton et al, 2016; Roemmich et al, 2016; Long et al, 2016; Malone et al, 2012; Maeda et al, 2017). Interestingly, we found that preventing foot adjustments during split-belt walking significantly reduced post-adaptation effects compared to the control group.…”