Ann Clin Med Res | Volume 1, Issue 2 | Research Article | Open Access

Bilateral Transfer in Force Control is Affected by the Exercise Load Weight: An Implication for Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients

Alberto Cordova¹ , Gandhi A¹ , Land WM¹ , Yang ZQ² , Wang HS³ , Peng KZ⁴ , Oyama S¹ , Huang YF¹ , Camargo E¹ and Yao WX^1*

¹ Department of Kinesiology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA ² Hunan Normal University, China ³ Chengdu Sports University, China ⁴ Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China

^*Correspondance to: Yao WX 

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Abstract

Abstract Aim: Two experiments examined the characteristics of bilateral transfer of force control in a sequential task from a dominant limb to non-dominant limb. Setting: The experiments were conducted in a university research laboratory located in Texas, USA. Population Sample: A total of 60 able-bodied participants took part in the study, with 30 participants for each experiment. Method: Each experiment consisted of two groups; experimental group and control group. The participants in the control groups only participated in pre and posttests. The participants in the experimental groups learned a sequential task consisting of a low force control (10% of Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC), Experiment 1) and learned a sequential task with a higher force control (50% of MVC, Experiment 2). During the pretest, each participant completed the task with both hands prior to performing practice trials with his or her dominant hand only. A posttest was conducted one hour later. Results: For both experimental groups, fine motor control significantly improved with the trained limb. Importantly, bilateral transfer of learning was only observed for the experimental group when learning with higher degree (i.e. amount) of force control (i.e. 50% MVC) in Experiment 2, and not for the experimental group in Experiment 1 (i.e. 10% MVC). Conclusion: These findings indicate that bilateral transfer of force control is sensitive to the degree of the force production being learned. That is, a bilateral transfer of force control can only be found for a high degree of learning force, such as 50% of MVC in the present study, and not with a low degree of learning force (e.g. 10% of MVC). This may have an impact on learning and relearning motor skills in sports and rehabilitation setting.

Keywords:

Keywords: Intermanual transfer; Cross education; Sequential motor skill; Motor learning

Citation:

Cordova A, Gandhi A, Land MW, Yang ZQ, Wang HS, Peng KZ,, et al. Bilateral Transfer in Force Control is Affected by the Exercise Load Weight: An Implication for Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients. Ann Clin Med Res. 2020; 1(2): 1010..