RESUMEN

Skilled football players can adapt their kicking movements depending on external environments. Predictive postural control movements, known as anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs), are needed preceding kicking movements to precisely control them while maintaining a standing posture only with the support leg. We aimed to clarify APAs of the support leg in the process of adaptation of goal-directed movements with the lower limb. Participants replicated ball-kicking movements such that they reached a cursor, representing a kicking-foot position towards a forward target while standing with the support leg. APAs were observed as the centre of pressure of the support leg shifted approximately 300 ms in advance of the onset of movement of the kicking foot. When the cursor trajectory of the kicking foot was visually rotated during the task, the kicking-foot movement was gradually modified to reach the target, indicating adaptation to the novel visuomotor environment. Interestingly, APAs in the mediolateral direction were also altered following the change in kicking-foot movements. Additionally, the APAs modified more slowly than the kicking-foot movements. These results suggest that flexible changes in predictive postural control might support the adaptation of goal-directed movements of the lower limb.

Asunto(s)

Movimiento , Postura , Humanos , Electromiografía , Equilibrio Postural , Pie , Músculo Esquelético

RESUMEN

Sophisticated soccer players can skillfully manipulate a ball with their feet depending on the external environment. This ability of goal-directed control in the lower limbs has not been fully elucidated, although upper limb movements have been studied extensively using motor adaptation tasks. The purpose of this study was to clarify how the goal-directed movements of the lower limbs is acquired by conducting an experiment of visuomotor adaptation in ball-kicking movements. In this study, healthy young participants with and without experience playing soccer or futsal performed ball-kicking movements. They were instructed to move a cursor representing the right foot position and shoot a virtual ball to a target on a display in front of them. During the learning trials, the trajectories of the virtual ball were rotated by 15° either clockwise or counterclockwise relative to the actual ball direction. As a result, participants adapted their lower limb movements to novel visuomotor perturbation regardless of the soccer playing experience, and changed their whole trajectories not just the kicking position during adaptation. These results indicate that the goal-directed lower limb movements can be adapted to the novel environment. Moreover, it was suggested that fundamental structure of visuomotor adaptation is common between goal-directed movements in the upper and lower limbs.