I: Motor Units and Muscle Spindles.- Demand and Accomplishment in Voluntary Movement.- Motoneurone Properties and Motor Control.- Functional Specialization in the Motor Unit Population of Cat Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle.- Somatotopic Connectivity or Species Connectivity?.- Physiological Estimates of the Numbers and Sizes of Motor Units in Man.- Contractile and Electrical Properties of Normal and Modified Human Motor Units.- Crustacean Motor Units.- Skeletomotor and Fusimotor Organization in Amphibians.- Evidence for Common Innervation of Bag and Chain Muscle Fibres in Cat Spindles.- Systems Approach to the Study of Muscle Spindles.- Non-Linear Behaviour of Spindle Receptors.- Discussion Summary.- Discussion Summary.- Discussion Papers.- A Third Mode of Repetitive Firing: Self-Regenerative Firing Due to Large Delayed Depolarizations.- Fatigability of Medial Gastrocnemius Motor Units in the Cat.- Motor Fields of Precentral Cells Elicited by Operant Reinforcement of Unit Activity.- Neck Muscle and Extraocular Receptors and Their Relationship to the Tectospinal Tract.- II: Control of Posture.- Postural Adaptation. The Nature of Adaptive Mechanisms in the Human Motor System.- The Significance of Intramuscular Receptors in Load Compensation During Voluntary Contractions in Man.- A Critique of the Hypothesis that the Spindle Secondary Endings Contribute Excitation to the Stretch Reflex.- The Stretch Reflex Response to Movement of the Human Elbow Joint.- The Continuity of Movements.- Postural Control: A Quantitative Study of Nervous System Functions in the Dog.- Vestibular and Reflex Control of Normal Standing.- A Cerebello-Thalamo-Cortical Pathway Controlling Fusimotor Activity.- The Supplementary Motor Area - A Control System for Posture ?.- Loading Reflexes During Two Types of Voluntary Muscle Contractions.- Control of Postural Reactions in Man: The Initiation of Gait.- Discussion Summary.- Discussion Summary.- Discussion Papers.- A Consideration of Stretch and Vibration Data in Relation to the Tonic Stretch Reflex.- Reflex and Non-Reflex Stiffness of Soleus Muscle in the Cat.- Effects of Secondary Muscle Spindle Afferent Discharge on Extensor Motoneurones in the Decerebrate Cat.- The Bases of Tremor During a Maintained Posture.- Compensation of Postural Control by Squirrel Monkeys Following Dorsal Column Lesions.- Proposal for Mode of Action of Anticholinergic Drugs Used in Parkinson's Disease.- III: Control of Locomotion.- Control of Motor Output.- Neuronal Organization and Ontogeny in the Lobster Swimmeret System.- Bursting Mechanisms in Molluskan Locomotion.- Crustacean Walking.- Nervous Control of Walking in the Cockroach.- Locomotion in the Spinal Cat.- Time Constraints for Inter-Limb Co-ordination in the Cat During Unrestrained Locomotion.- The Function of Long Propriospinal Pathways in the Co-ordination of Quadrupedal Stepping in the Cat.- Eighth Nerve Contributions to the Synthesis of Locomotor Control.- EMG of Locomotion in Gorilla and Man.- Discussion Summary.- Discussion Summary.- Discussion Papers.- The Relationship of Interlimb Phase to Oscillator Activity Gradients in Crayfish.- Gastrocnemius Muscle Activity in Human Locomotion.- Contributors.

Control of posture and locomotion

The determination of a creep modulus for articular cartilage from indentation tests on the human femoral head

Peak dynamic force in human gait

Fourier analysis of ground reaction forces in normals and patients with knee joint disease.

Biomechanics is the science which combines principles of engineering, basic laws of physics, and orthopaedic surgery. Biomechanics research enables the surgeon to achieve a greater understanding of the variety of mechanical derangements of the body, to formulate a precise surgical correction of a problem, and to design an effective rehabilitation program.

Biomechanics of the Hip

WALKING, as the most common method of human locomotion, is analyzed. Characteristic patterns of walking are described. Conventional methods for describing gait in objective terms are discussed and illustrated. These include electrical and optical techniques for obtaining the temporal, kinematic and kinetic measures. The most recent instrumentation used by the New York University Biomechanics Group in its continuing research in locomotion, “Elgons”, linear and angular accelerometers and circuitry associated with these, are described. Analytic methods, vector and harmonic analysis, for the interpretation of the recorded data are presented. The more significant differences between normal and pathological gait are discussed. The application of these techniques to the evaluation of the more complex prosthetic devices are described and other possible applications are also reviewed.

Howard Gage

Papers

Human gait characteristics