The effect of muscle-tone-reducing procedures in athetotic head movements: partial nerve block by lidocaine and surgical release of the neck muscles

1999 ◽  
Vol 110 (7) ◽  
pp. 1308-1314
Author(s):  
K Saiki ◽  
N Tsuzuki ◽  
R Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Nerve Block ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Surgical Release

Neck Muscle Responses to Stimulation of Monkey Superior Colliculus. II. Gaze Shift Initiation and Volitional Head Movements

2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 2000-2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Corneil ◽  
Etienne Olivier ◽  
Douglas P. Munoz
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Stimulation Of

We report neck muscle activity and head movements evoked by electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus (SC) in head-unrestrained monkeys. Recording neck electromyography (EMG) circumvents complications arising from the head's inertia and the kinetics of muscle force generation and allows precise assessment of the neuromuscular drive to the head plant. This study served two main purposes. First, we sought to test the predictions made in the companion paper of a parallel drive from the SC onto neck muscles. Low-current, long-duration stimulation evoked both neck EMG responses and head movements either without or prior to gaze shifts, testifying to a SC drive to neck muscles that is independent of gaze-shift initiation. However, gaze-shift initiation was linked to a transient additional EMG response and head acceleration, confirming the presence of a SC drive to neck muscles that is dependent on gaze-shift initiation. We forward a conceptual neural architecture and suggest that this parallel drive provides the oculomotor system with the flexibility to orient the eyes and head independently or together, depending on the behavioral context. Second, we compared the EMG responses evoked by SC stimulation to those that accompanied volitional head movements. We found characteristic features in the underlying pattern of evoked neck EMG that were not observed during volitional head movements in spite of the seemingly natural kinematics of evoked head movements. These features included reciprocal patterning of EMG activity on the agonist and antagonist muscles during stimulation, a poststimulation increase in the activity of antagonist muscles, and synchronously evoked responses on agonist and antagonist muscles regardless of initial horizontal head position. These results demonstrate that the electrically evoked SC drive to the head cannot be considered as a neural replicate of the SC drive during volitional head movements and place important new constraints on the interpretation of electrically evoked head movements.

Head Movements in Flies (Calliphora) Produced by Deflexion of the Halteres

1980 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID C. SANDEMAN ◽  
H. MARKL
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Ganglion ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Central Projections ◽  
Sensory Axons ◽  
One To One

1. The heads of resting flies will twitch to the side if the haltere is deflected rapidly forwards. Head movements are always away from the stimulated haltere and do not occur if the haltere is deflected up, down or backwards. 2. The anatomy and action of the neck muscles is described. 3. Cobalt fills of the whole haltere nerve show that the sensory axons project to the neuropiles of the ipsi- and contralateral pro- and mesothoracic neuropiles, to the ipsilateral metathoracic neuropiles and to the cerebral ganglion. 4. Cobalt fills of the nerves to the neck muscles and from the prosternal organs show that the central projections of these nerves end in the ipsilateral prothoracic neuropile. 5. Recordings from the motoneurones to the neck muscles show that they are phasically activated by forward deflexion of the halteres after a latency of 2.5–3 ms. Spikes in the motoneurones follow the vibration of the haltere, one to one, up to 200 Hz. 6. Recordings from the ipsilateral mesothoracic wing nerve (N. alae) show two large units which respond after a 2.5–3 ms latency to forward deflexion of the halteres. 7. Behavioural observations of walking flies show that the presence or absence of halteres has a small but nevertheless significant effect on the animals' ability to detect angular accelerations during walking or to orient with respect to gravity.

Head Immobilization can Impair Jaw Function

2006 ◽  
Vol 85 (11) ◽  
pp. 1001-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Häggman-Henrikson ◽  
E. Nordh ◽  
H. Zafar ◽  
P.-O. Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Myoelectric Activity ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Head Fixation ◽  
Jaw Opening ◽  
Simultaneous Registration ◽  
Jaw Function ◽  
Mandibular Movements ◽  
Head Neck

Findings that jaw-opening/-closing relies on both mandibular and head movements suggest that jaw and neck muscles are jointly activated in jaw function. This study tested the hypothesis that rhythmic jaw activities involve an active repositioning of the head, and that head fixation can impair jaw function. Concomitant mandibular and head-neck movements were recorded during rhythmic jaw activities in 12 healthy adults, with and without fixation of the head. In four participants, the movement recording was combined with simultaneous registration of myoelectric activity in jaw and neck muscles. The results showed neck muscle activity during jaw opening with and without head fixation. Notably, head fixation led to reduced mandibular movements and shorter duration of jaw-opening/-closing cycles. The findings suggest recruitment of neck muscles in jaw activities, and that head fixation can impair jaw function. The results underline the jaw and neck neuromuscular relationship in jaw function.

Electromyography of Superficial and Deep Neck Muscles During Isometric, Voluntary, and Reflex Contractions

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunter P. Siegmund ◽  
Jean-Sébastien Blouin ◽  
John R. Brault ◽  
Sofia Hedenstierna ◽  
J. Timothy Inglis
Keyword(s):  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Isometric Contractions ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Electromyographic Activity ◽  
Complex Data ◽  
Force Direction ◽  
Complex Data Sets ◽  
Splenius Capitis ◽  
Muscle Activations

Increasingly complex models of the neck neuromusculature need detailed muscle and kinematic data for proper validation. The goal of this study was to measure the electromyographic activity of superficial and deep neck muscles during tasks involving isometric, voluntary, and reflexively evoked contractions of the neck muscles. Three male subjects (28-41years) had electromyographic (EMG) fine wires inserted into the left sternocleidomastoid, levator scapulae, trapezius, splenius capitis, semispinalis capitis, semispinalis cervicis, and multifidus muscles. Surface electrodes were placed over the left sternohyoid muscle. Subjects then performed: (i) maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) in the eight directions (45deg intervals) from the neutral posture; (ii) 50N isometric contractions with a slow sweep of the force direction through 720deg; (iii) voluntary oscillatory head movements in flexion and extension; and (iv) initially relaxed reflex muscle activations to a forward acceleration while seated on a sled. Isometric contractions were performed against an overhead load cell and movement dynamics were measured using six-axis accelerometry on the head and torso. In all three subjects, the two anterior neck muscles had similar preferred activation directions and acted synergistically in both dynamic tasks. With the exception of splenius capitis, the posterior and posterolateral neck muscles also showed consistent activation directions and acted synergistically during the voluntary motions, but not during the sled perturbations. These findings suggest that the common numerical-modeling assumption that all anterior muscles act synergistically as flexors is reasonable, but that the related assumption that all posterior muscles act synergistically as extensors is not. Despite the small number of subjects, the data presented here can be used to inform and validate a neck model at three levels of increasing neuromuscular–kinematic complexity: muscles generating forces with no movement, muscles generating forces and causing movement, and muscles generating forces in response to induced movement. These increasingly complex data sets will allow researchers to incrementally tune their neck models’ muscle geometry, physiology, and feedforward/feedback neuromechanics.

Neck Muscle Synergies During Stimulation and Inactivation of the Interstitial Nucleus of Cajal (INC)

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 1677-1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad Farshadmanesh ◽  
Pengfei Chang ◽  
Hongying Wang ◽  
Xiaogang Yan ◽  
Brian D. Corneil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Muscle Synergies ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Interstitial Nucleus Of Cajal ◽  
Splenius Capitis ◽  
The Relationship

The interstitial nucleus of Cajal (INC) is thought to control torsional and vertical head posture. Unilateral microstimulation of the INC evokes torsional head rotation to positions that are maintained until stimulation offset. Unilateral INC inactivation evokes head position-holding deficits with the head tilted in the opposite direction. However, the underlying muscle synergies for these opposite behavioral effects are unknown. Here, we examined neck muscle activity in head-unrestrained monkeys before and during stimulation (50 μA, 200 ms, 300 Hz) and inactivation (injection of 0.3 μl of 0.05% muscimol) of the same INC sites. Three-dimensional eye and head movements were recorded simultaneously with electromyographic (EMG) activity in six bilateral neck muscles: sternocleidomastoid (SCM), splenius capitis (SP), rectus capitis posterior major (RCPmaj.), occipital capitis inferior (OCI), complexus (COM), and biventer cervicis (BC). INC stimulation evoked a phasic, short-latency (∼5–10 ms) facilitation and later (∼100–200 ms) a more tonic facilitation in the activity of ipsi-SCM, ipsi-SP, ipsi-COM, ipsi-BC, contra-RCPmaj., and contra-OCI. Unilateral INC inactivation led to an increase in the activity of contra-SCM, ipsi-SP, ipsi-RCPmaj., and ipsi-OCI and a decrease in the activity of contra-RCPmaj. and contra-OCI. Thus the influence of INC stimulation and inactivation were opposite on some muscles (i.e., contra-OCI and contra-RCPmaj.), but the comparative influences on other neck muscles were more variable. These results show that the relationship between the neck muscle responses during INC stimulation and inactivation is much more complex than the relationship between the overt behaviors.

scholarly journals Unraveling the Mystery of Canavan Disease: A 100 Year Chronicle of Key Events

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Canavan Disease ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Great Expectations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Northeastern Europe

In the early 1900’s, in a small geographical region in northeastern Europe, a mysterious early-onset human malady was brought to the attention of physicians. In this disease, children appeared normal at birth and met usual developmental milestones up to the age of about 4-5 months. At that time, infants began to lose muscle tone and could no longer control their head movements. The disease was progressive, and by age 2, characterized by enlargement of the head, spastic responses to stimulation, and a general listlessness. By age 3, blindness was apparent and there was extension and posturing of limbs due to uncontrolled muscle contractions. Death usually occurred between ages 3-4. In large family’s common at that time, there could be 2-3 afflicted children out of a total of 8-9 siblings. There is no metric to measure pain and suffering of CD children, but we can measure progress made over the past century in solving the mystery. At the present time, there are great expectations that a human cure is possible since a mouse model of CD was recently shown to be completely cured by an unusual genetic engineering outcome. In this short review are chronicled key findings made over the past 100 + years that have led to identification of the genetic and cellular etiology of CD, and the reasons for such encouragement.

scholarly journals Startle response of human neck muscles sculpted by readiness to perform ballistic head movements

2001 ◽  
Vol 535 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunter P. Siegmund ◽  
J. Timothy Inglis ◽  
David J. Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Startle Response ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements

Widespread Presaccadic Recruitment of Neck Muscles by Stimulation of the Primate Frontal Eye Fields

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 1333-1354 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Elsley ◽  
Benjamin Nagy ◽  
Sharon L. Cushing ◽  
Brian D. Corneil
Keyword(s):  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Head Motion ◽  
Frontal Eye Fields ◽  
Conduction Time ◽  
Evoked Responses ◽  
Gaze Shifts ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Stimulation Of

We studied the role of the primate frontal eye fields (FEFs) in eye-head gaze shifts by recording EMG activity from multiple dorsal neck muscles after electrical stimulation of a broad distribution of sites throughout FEF. We assess our results in light of four mechanisms forwarded to account for why eye and head movements follow FEF stimulation. Two mechanisms propose that movements are generated indirectly by FEF stimulation in response to either a percept or an eccentric orbital position. Two other mechanisms propose that movements are evoked directly through the issuance of either a gaze command or separate eye and head commands. FEF stimulation evoked short-latency (∼20 ms) neck EMG responses from the vast majority (>95%) of stimulation sites. Evoked responses usually preceded the gaze shift by ∼20 ms, even for small gaze shifts (<10°) not typically associated with head motion. Evoked responses began earlier and attained a larger magnitude when accompanied by larger gaze shifts and took a form consistent with the recruitment of the appropriately directed head movements to accompany the evoked gaze shift. We also observed robust neck EMG even when stimulation failed to evoke a gaze shift and occasionally observed head-only movements when the head was unrestrained. These results resemble neck EMG evoked from the superior colliculus (SC). Neck EMG response latencies approached the minimal conduction time to the motor periphery and hence are not consistent with either of the indirect mechanisms. The widespread nature of the cephalomotor drive from the FEF, the scaling of neck EMG responses with gaze magnitude, and the consistently earlier generation of the EMG versus gaze response are difficult to reconcile with suggestions that separate FEF channels encode eye and head motion independently. The most parsimonious interpretation is that a gaze command issued by the FEF is decomposed into eye and head commands downstream of the SC. The relative timing of the neck EMG and gaze shift responses, and the presence of neck EMG responses on trials without gaze shifts, implies that head premotor elements are not subjected to the same brain stem control mechanisms governing gaze shifts.

Neck Muscles in the Rhesus Monkey. II. Electromyographic Patterns of Activation Underlying Postures and Movements

2001 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 1729-1749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Corneil ◽  
Etienne Olivier ◽  
Frances J. R. Richmond ◽  
Gerald E. Loeb ◽  
Douglas P. Munoz
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Gaze Shifts ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist ◽  
Head Positions

Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded in ≤12 neck muscles in four alert monkeys whose heads were unrestrained to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of neck muscle activation accompanying a large range of head postures and movements. Some head postures and movements were elicited by training animals to generate gaze shifts to visual targets. Other spontaneous head movements were made during orienting, tracking, feeding, expressive, and head-shaking behaviors. These latter movements exhibited a wider range of kinematic patterns. Stable postures and small head movements of only a few degrees were associated with activation of a small number of muscles in a reproducible synergy. Additional muscles were recruited for more eccentric postures and larger movements. For head movements during trained gaze shifts, movement amplitude, velocity, and acceleration were correlated linearly and agonist muscles were recruited without antagonist muscles. Complex sequences of reciprocal bursts in agonist and antagonist muscles were observed during very brisk movements. Turning movements of similar amplitudes that began from different initial head positions were associated with systematic variations in the activities of different muscles and in the relative timings of these activities. Unique recruitment synergies were observed during feeding and head-shaking behaviors. Our results emphasize that the recruitment of a given muscle was generally ordered and consistent but that strategies for coordination among various neck muscles were often complex and appeared to depend on the specifics of musculoskeletal architecture, posture, and movement kinematics that differ substantially among species.

Effect of neck posture on the activation of feline neck muscles during voluntary head turns

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 2004-2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. B. Thomson ◽  
G. E. Loeb ◽  
F. J. Richmond
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Motor Program ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Head Turning ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Levator Scapulae ◽  
Horizontal Head

1. To determine whether neck posture affects the usage of neck muscles during a specific motor task, we recorded the electromyographic (EMG) patterns of neck muscles in four cats, which made horizontal, head-turning movements to fixate eccentrically placed targets. In some trials, the cervical column was oriented vertically whereas in other trials, the cervical column was oriented more horizontally. 2. During horizontal head movements, five muscles (obliquus capitis inferior, splenius, levator scapulae, complexus, and biventer cervicis) displayed activation patterns that were consistent from cat to cat and did not change when the cats adopted a different neck posture. Most of these muscles are large, superficial muscles that attach to the skull and span many cervical joints. 3. Posturally dependent patterns of activation were observed in five other neck muscles (semispinalis cervicis, longissimus capitis, levator scapulae ventralis, scalenus anterior, and obliquus capitis superior). Most of these muscles lie deeper and more laterally within the neck musculature and generally span fewer cervical joints than the muscles that displayed invariant patterns of activation. 4. These results suggest that the set of invariantly activated muscles may compose part of a basic motor program that is triggered during head movements in the horizontal plane. This motor program appears to be modified by the selective activation of ancillary muscles, which are recruited in a manner related to the neck posture. The deep positioning of the ancillary muscles may permit them to regulate the mobility of the cervical column and to adjust the net muscular force applied across the neck to the skull. Organizing the motor output in this manner might simplify the task of computing the appropriate patterns of neck-muscle activation.

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