Perceptive and motor effects of muscular vibrations in the normal human: demonstration of a response by opposing muscles
Roll, J.P.; Gilhodes, J.C.; Tardy-Gervet, M.F.
Archives Italiennes de Biologie 118(1): 51-71
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-9829 PMID: 7458531 Document Number: 165032
The perceptual and motor effects of vibratory stimuli applied to the tendons of the brachial triceps and biceps muscles were studied in normal man under isometric conditions (without movement of the elbow joint) and under anisometric conditions (with the elbow joint free to move). When the subject does not look at the extremity stimulated, the vibratory stimulus produces an illusory movement, the direction of which corresponds to a movement that would involve stretching the muscle that is subjected to vibration. During movements, kinesthetic information may proceed from stretched muscles rather than from active muscles. The same vibratory stimulation applied to triceps or biceps may involve 2 opposite motor reactions: the contraction of the stimulated muscle or the contraction of the antagonist muscle. These observations are further developed and the roles played by flexor and extensor muscles are elaborated.