Putting your best foot forward may be partly a reflex action

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-03-10 11:01

Australia; QLD

The reflexes of muscles located within the arch of the human foot play a role in stepping and may affect how we respond to unexpected terrain, according to Australian research. Reflexes are the main reason we react to things quickly and without thinking, and we know that some muscle reflexes help stop us tripping over. But until now little was known about the reflexes of the muscles of our feet. The researchers showed that foot reflexes are active when we step and that the reflex response changes when we know what we are stepping onto compared to when we don't. The researchers say these findings show that it may be important for prostheses and robots to have some level of reflex control to appropriately respond to variations in terrain.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Stepping onto the unknown: reflexes of the foot and ankle while stepping with perturbed perceptions of terrain

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

The muscles located within the arch of the human foot provide dynamic stability for the body during postural tasks and locomotion. Despite the importance of these muscles, little is known about the role of spinal reflexes in the activation of these muscles during locomotion. Here we explore the potential contributions of muscle stretch reflexes during locomotion with unexpected perturbations and different type of surfaces.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Journal/
conference: Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Queensland

Funder: This study was funded by National Health and Medical Research Council (grant no. APP1111909).

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