Kinesiology Commons^™

Control Of Redundant Pointing Movements Involving The Wrist And Forearm, Garrett R. Dorman, Kevin C. Davis, Allan W. Peaden, Steven K. Charles

Faculty Publications

The musculoskeletal system can move in more ways than are strictly necessary, allowing many tasks to be accomplished with a variety of limb configurations. Why some configurations are preferred has been a focus of motor control research, but most studies have focused on shoulder-elbow or whole-arm movements. This study focuses on movements involving forearm pronation-supination (PS), wrist flexion-extension (FE), and wrist radial-ulnar deviation (RUD), and elucidates how these three degrees of freedom (DOF) combine to perform the common task of pointing, which only requires two DOF. Although pointing is more sensitive to FE and RUD than to PS and could …