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1 Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA; Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
2 Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
3 Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bastian{at}kennedykrieger.org.
Inter-limb coordination is critically important during bipedal locomotion and often must be adapted to account for varying environmental circumstances. Here we studied adaptation of human inter-limb coordination using a split-belt treadmill where the legs can be made to move at different speeds. Human adults, infants, and spinal cats can alter walking patterns on a split-belt treadmill by prolonging stance and shortening swing on the slower limb, and vice versa on the faster limb. It is not known whether other locomotor parameters change, or if there is a capacity for storage of a new motor pattern following training. We asked whether adults adapt both intra- and inter-limb gait parameters during split-belt walking and show after-effects from training. Healthy subjects were tested walking with belts tied (baseline), then belts split (adaptation), and again tied (post-adaptation). Walking parameters that directly relate to the inter-limb relationship changed slowly during adaptation and showed robust after-effects during post-adaptation. These changes paralleled subjective impressions of limping versus no limping. In contrast, parameters calculated from an individual leg changed rapidly to accommodate split-belts and showed no after-effects. These results suggest some independence of neural control of intra- versus inter-limb parameters during walking. They also show that the adult nervous system can adapt and store new inter-limb patterns after short bouts of training. The differences in intra- versus inter-limb control may be related to the varying complexity of the parameters, task demands, and/or the level of neural control necessary for their adaptation.
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