Corticospinal Excitability Quantification During a Visually-Guided Precision Walking Task in Humans: Potential for Neurorehabilitation

• Published in: Neurorehabilitation and neural repair 2022-11, Vol.36 (10-11), p.689-700
• Main Authors: Dambreville, Charline, Neige, Cécilia, Mercier, Catherine, Blanchette, Andreanne K., Bouyer, Laurent J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electromyography; Evoked Potentials, Motor - physiology; Humans; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Neurological Rehabilitation; Pyramidal Tracts - physiology; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Walking - physiology
• ISSN: 1545-9683; 1552-6844
• DOI: 10.1177/15459683221124909

The corticospinal tract has been shown to be involved in normal walking in humans. However, its contribution during more challenging locomotor tasks is still unclear. As the corticospinal tract can be a potential target to promote gait recovery after neurological injury, it is of primary importance to quantify its use during human walking. The aims of the current study were to: (1) quantify the effects of precision walking on corticospinal excitability as compared to normal walking; (2) assess if corticospinal modulation is related to task difficulty or participants’ performance. Sixteen healthy participants walked on a treadmill during 2 tasks: regular walking (simple task) and stepping onto virtual targets (precision task). Virtual targets appeared randomly at 3 different step lengths: preferred, and ±20%. To assess corticospinal excitability, 25 motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the tibialis anterior muscle in each task during walking. Performance for each participant (global success score; % of target hit) and task difficulty related to step length adjustments (success score for each step length) were also calculated. MEP size was larger during the precision task in all participants (mean increase of 93% ± 72%; P