Motor style at rest and during locomotion in humans

Humans exhibit various motor styles that reflect their intra- and interindividual variability when implementing sensorimotor transformations. This opens important questions, such as, At what point should they be readjusted to maintain optimal motor control? Do changes in motor style reveal the onset of a pathological process and can these changes help rehabilitation and recovery? To further investigate the concept of motor style, tests were carried out to quantify posture at rest and motor control in 18 healthy subjects under four conditions: walking at three velocities (comfortable walking, walking at 4 km/h, and race walking) and running at maximum velocity. The results suggest that motor control can be conveniently decomposed into a static component (a stable configuration of the head and column with respect to the gravitational vertical) and dynamic components (head, trunk, and limb movements) in humans, as in quadrupeds, and both at rest and during locomotion. These skeletal configurations provide static markers to quantify the motor style of individuals because they exhibit large variability among subjects. Also, using four measurements (jerk, root mean square, sample entropy, and the two-thirds power law), it was shown that the dynamics were variable at both intra- and interindividual levels during locomotion. Variability increased following a head-to-toe gradient. These findings led us to select dynamic markers that could define, together with static markers, the motor style of a subject. Finally, our results support the view that postural and motor control are subserved by different neuronal networks in frontal, sagittal, and transversal planes. NEW & NOTEWORTHY During human locomotion, motor control can be conveniently decomposed into a static and dynamic components. Variable dynamics were observed at both the intra- and inter-individual levels during locomotion. Variability increased following a head-to-toe gradient. Finally, our results support the view that postural and motor control are subserved by different neuronal networks in the frontal, sagittal, and transversal planes.