Biomechanics Commons^™

Investigation Of Neural Mechanisms Of Grip Relaxation, Binal Motawar

Theses and Dissertations

Neural mechanisms for grip relaxation are relatively unknown and understudied, as compared to mechanisms for grip initiation. Yet, termination of motor activity is as important as initiation in daily function. This knowledge gap presents incomplete understanding of neural control of hand function and its impairment with aging and neurologic disorders. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify and examine neural mechanisms of grip relaxation in healthy young adults, with aging, and in chronic stroke survivors. A series of experiments in healthy young adults showed that the relaxation from a maximum power grip was mediated by increase in the short-interval …