Braking Bad: Eccentric control for walking and mobility

Course overview

Eccentric muscle contractions are the brakes of the human movement system. The speaker will present novel ideas on the role of eccentrics in walking and other motor tasks. In the normal gait pattern, the majority of muscle contractions are eccentric, yielding remarkable efficiency: harnessing momentum and ground reaction forces to minimize the energy cost of walking. In individuals with neurological injuries, movement impairments impede the ability to generate eccentric contractions or to time muscle contractions correctly, yielding co-contraction. This leads to a decrease in walking, functional performance and participation. The speaker will identify how these impairments impede gait ability and how to promote eccentric muscle contractions in intervention programs to minimize negative effects on gait and maximize walking performance.