2. Motor behavior
• is the study of how motor skills are learned, controlled, and
developed to assist people as they practice and experience in daily
activities.
• It constitutes all movements, from involuntary to voluntary
actions in every part of the human body that starts from head to
toe.
• Every movement depends on generating, controlling, and managing
the forces required for the muscles and biomechanics.
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3. Motor skills
• a function that involves specific movements of the body's
muscles to perform a certain task.
• Motor skills are referred to as the body‟s ability to manage
the process of movements.
• A person’s brain, , and nervous system play
vital roles in regulating and executing motor skills.
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4. cont...
• they contribute to the development of language, play,
academic, and adaptive behavior.
• Motor skills are produced in an area of the brain called
.
• This is the area of the brain that controls voluntary muscle
groups.
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5. cont....
• There are two types of motor skills:
Fine motor skills
Gross motor skills
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6. Fine motor skills
• Fine motor skills are actions requiring the use of small muscle groups to
complete precise tasks.
• fine motor skills are complex and they involve a coordinated effort between the
brain and muscles.
• People use this skills to do daily tasks like Holding a pen or pencil ,Drawing
pictures and writing neatly, using a keyboard, Using scissors, rulers, getting
dressed, tying one's shoelaces and brushing their teeth.
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7. Gross motor skills
• Gross motor skills are actions requiring the use of large muscle
groups to complete tasks.
• Gross motor skill activities tend to be bigger and more
energetic than fine motor skill.
• For example:sitting, standing, running, walking and jumping....
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8. Normal movement
• considered as a skill acquired through learning (or development) for
the purpose of achieving the most efficient and economical movement
or performance of a given task and is specific to the individual.”
(S. Edwards, 2002)
• It is a way to describe the optimal way to perform a certain
movement.
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9. Cont.….
• Another aspect of the efficiency of movement includes:
goal achievement
minimum energy expenditure
and minimum movement time.
• One of the major contributors to normal movement is called postural control.
• Postural control is the use of postural muscles of the body to maintain and
achieve balance when performing self-initiated tasks (e.g. reaching for a glass)
or through external disturbances (someone unexpectedly bumping into you).
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10. Cont.….
• Postural control uses many sensory systems in our body (e.g. vision,
vestibular) to help provide stability during various static and dynamic activities
such as sitting, standing, walking or kneeling.
• With a neurological condition such as a brain injury, stroke or spinal cord
injury, damage has occurred to the CNS .
• This can have varying and extensive effects on a person‟s ability to move
efficiently.
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11. CONT…..
• A neurological condition can influence:
Muscle tone
Sensory input
Perception and attention
• All these factors have effects on walking, balance and posture.
• The most apparent deficit is often in muscle tone.
• Depending on the type and area of injury muscles can be flaccid (weakness or
paralysis in muscles) or have increased tone or spasticity (stiffening,
tightening or contraction in muscles).
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12. cont...
• If someone has a neurological problem then they can have problems
that affect the motor cortex, the nervous system or the muscles
themselves.
• This can make it more difficult to produce an accurate and efficient
movement.
• PTs work with people who have problems with their motor skills as a
result of a neurological or developmental condition.
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13. CONT….
• The aim of neurological treatment techniques is to restore normal
movement to the greatest degree possible.
• Though the effects of neurological conditions can be devastating,
this approach is based on the brain‟s ability to adapt to change,
reorganize (neuroplasticity) and recover after neurological injury.
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14. CONT….
• This training can lead to reorganization, structural and functional
changes to the central nervous system.
• Therapist and client can facilitate positive changes that enhance
motor recovery, allow movements to be easier and pain free, and
improve independence in overall mobility.
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15. cont....
• Three sub disciplines motor behavior
Motor learning
Motor control
Motor development
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16. • Motor learning is a relatively permanent change in the ability to
execute a motor skill as a result of practice or experience.
• The process of acquiring a skill by which the learner, through
practice and assimilation, refines and makes automatic the
desired movement."
• "An internal neurologic process that results in the ability to
produce a new motor task.“
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17. cont....
• It examines how people acquire motor skills.
• A set of internal processes associated with practice or experience
leading to relatively permanent changes in the capability for skilled
behavior”
• involves attempts by learners to acquire an idea of the movement or
understand the basic pattern of coordination.
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18. Stages of motor learning
There are three stages of motor learning
Cognitive Stage
Associative Stage
Autonomous Stage
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19. Cognitive Stage
• motor learning begins with the cognitive stage and the processing of
information.
• When learning a skilled movement, a pt. must figure out what to do, that is..
– the patient must learn the goal or purpose and the requirements of the exercise and the
functional task.
– How to do the motor task safely and correctly.
• At this stage the patient need to think about each component or the sequence
of the skilled mov‟t.
• the problem to be solved in the cognitive stage is understanding what to do.
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20. Cont.…..
• At this stage, the learner is a novice (new to the skill and task at hand) and
makes a conscious effort to develop an understanding of what to do.
• There is often a high degree of error and a lot of attention is required to learn.
• performance will likely be inconsistent and include mistakes.
• A facilitator (i.e. therapist, parent, friend, sibling) may be able to provide
assistance, guidance or hands-on help to ensure safety and enable the client to
continue to learn.
• There is a good improvement in performance in a short period of time during
the cognitive stage, particularly when the skill is repeated.
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22. Associative Stage
• the learner has established the movement sequence and is able
to refine his / her strategies.
• client does not need to rely so heavily on external instructions
and is better able to respond to the context / environment.
• For example: when riding a bike, the child will learn how to go
different speeds and navigate the environment.
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23. cont...
• fewer errors, greater consistency and improved
performance.
• Less feedback is required, but improvement occurs more
slowly.
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24. Autonomous Stage
• Its The final stage in motor learning.
• Movements are automatic and involves further practice of the skill.
• The learner has internalized the skill and is able to perform it with
minimal cognitive monitoring.
• The patient does not have to pay attention to the task.
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25. Cont.…
• The patient easily adapt variations in task demands and
environmental conditions.
• The performance tends to be free of errors and adaptable,
with less feedback required.
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28. Motor control
• is the process of initiating, directing, and grading purposeful
voluntary movement.
• exploring how the CNS produces purposeful and coordinated
movements in its interaction with the rest of the body and with the
environment.
• motor control as the ability to regulate mechanisms essential to
movement.
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29. system involved
sensory/ perceptual system
• Vestibular
• Visual
• Somatosensory
– somatic senses, touch or tactile
perception.
action systems
• Motor Cortex
• Cerebellum
• Central Pattern generators
– circuits produces alternative,
rhythmic motor out put
– eg . walking, speacking , breathing
• Basal Ganglia
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30. Components of Proper Motor Control
Volition:
• The motor system must generate movements that are adaptive and that
accomplish the goals of the individual.
• The motor system must transform the goals into the appropriate activations of
muscles to perform the desired movements.
Coordination of signals to many muscle groups:
• Few movements are restricted to the activation of a single muscle.
• The task of the motor system is to determine the necessary forces and
coordination at each joint in order to produce the final, smooth movements.
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31. Cont.…
• Proprioception:
• In order to make a desired movement (e.g., raising your hand to ask a
question), it is essential for the motor system to know the starting
position of the hand.
• Different movt‟ with same final position of the arm require different
patterns of muscle activation.
• Motor system uses this information to calculate joint position and
other variables necessary to make the appropriate movement.
• Postural adjustments:
• The motor system must constantly produce postural adjustments in
order to compensate for changes in the body‟s center of mass as we
move our limbs, head, and torso.
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32. Cont.….
• Sensory feedback:
• the motor system must use other sensory information in order to perform the movement
accurately.
• By comparing desired activity with actual activity, sensory feedback allows for
corrections in movements as they take place. eg mirror therapy
• and it also allows modifications to motor programs so that future movements are
performed more accurately.
• Adaptability:
• The motor system must adapt to changing circumstances.
• For example, as a child grows and its body changes, different constraints are placed on the
motor system in terms of the size and mass of bones and muscles.
• if the system were unable to adapt, we would never be able to acquire motor skills, such as
playing a piano, hitting a baseball, or performing microsurgery.
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33. Cont.….
• Unconscious processing:
• The motor system must perform many procedures in an automatic fashion, without the need for high-
order control.
• Imagine if walking across the room required thinking about planting the foot at each step, paying
attention to the movement of each muscle in the leg and making sure that the appropriate forces and
contraction speeds are taking place.
• It would be hard to do anything else but that one task. Instead, many motor tasks are performed in an
automatic fashion that does not require conscious processing.
• For example: many of the postural adjustments that the body makes during movement are performed
without our awareness.
• These unconscious processes allow higher-order brain areas to concern themselves with broad
desires and goals, rather than low-level implementations of movements.
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34. Cont.….
• Compensation for the physical characteristics of the body and
muscles.
– To exert a defined force on an object, it is not sufficient to know only the
characteristics of the object (e.g., its mass, size, etc.).
– The motor system must account for the physical characteristics of the
body and muscles themselves.
– The bones and muscles have mass that must be considered when moving a
joint, and the muscles themselves have a certain degree of resistance to
movement.
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35. MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
• is the process that involves the physical growth and
development of skeletal muscles, bones, sensations to produce
better movements.
• Motor development is classified into three main categories.
Fine motor skill development:
takes place in the bones and muscles involved in fine motor movements,
gross motor skill development:
takes place in the bones and muscles involved in gross motor movements.
Typical motor skill development:
• in the internal structure of the human body, such as the head, arms,
hands, feet, and more.
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36. NEUROPLASTICITY
• known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity.
• is a process that involves adaptive structural and functional
changes to the brain.
• Neuroplasticity is the brain‟s ability to change – to rewire,
and important connections.
• By harnessing neuroplasticity through practice and repetition, the
brain will create and reinforce new neural pathways to learn
new skills, habits, and ways of thinking.
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37. cont....
• „‟the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response
to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure,
functions, or connections‟‟.
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38. CONT….
• Clinically, it is the process of brain changes after injury, such
as a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI), multiple sclerosis
MS and Parkinson‟s disease.
• The changes can either be
– beneficial (restoration of function after injury),
– neutral (no change), or
– negative (can have pathological consequences)
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39. Neuroplastic specific techniques in PT
• Motor Learning
• Biofeedback
• Task Analysis and Task-Specific Training
• Neurodevelopmental treatment (Bobath)
• Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT)
• Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF)
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40. Mechanisms of Neuroplasticity
• Synaptic plasticity: Synaptic plasticity is the ability to make
experience-dependent long-lasting changes in the strength of neuronal
connections.
• This is best expressed with the concept of long-term potentiation.
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41. Functional Reorganization
• Functional plasticity is the ability to move functions from a
damaged area of the brain to undamaged areas.
• Equipotentiality is the concept that when one area of the brain is
damaged, the opposing side of the brain would be able to sustain
the lost function.
• Functional plasticity changes occur in response to malfunction or
damage of neurons.
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42. cont...
• if the damage occurred very early, then the brain has the
potential to be able to overtake lost functions.
• vicariation:which is that the brain can reorganize other
portions of the brain to overtake functions that they were
not intended to.
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43. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF NEUROPLASTICITY
1. Use it or lose it
Failure to drive specific brain functions can lead to loss of abilities.
2. Use it and improve it
Training that drives a specific brain function can lead to improving abilities.
Training or specific practice will enhance a function.
3. Specificity
The nature of the training experience dictates the nature of the change in the brain
(plasticity).
practice of each skill must be very specific to induce plasticity.
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44. cont....
4.Repetition matters
Sufficient repetition is required to induce plasticity,
refinement of the skill and memory for how to perform the skill.
5. Intensity matters
Change (plasticity) requires intensive training.
Practicing skills must occur regularly to induce plasticity.
The frequency of the skill practiced is very important for the individual.
how often and how hard
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45. Cont.….
6. Time matters
Different forms of change (plasticity) in the brain happen at
different times during training.
This "early vs. late" approach is especially important to support
the beginning treatment before maladaptive behaviors have a
chance to spring up.
7.Salience matters
The training experience must be meaningful to the person in order
to cause change (plasticity).
8. Age matters
Training-induced change (plasticity) occurs more readily in
younger brains.
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46. Cont.….
9. Transference/generalization
• Change in function as a result of one training experience can even lead to
learning other similar skills.
• eg. core stability training .....improve sitting balance ,standing balance
and transfer.
• Practicing skills should occur in multiple environments.
10. Interference
• Brain changes (plasticity) that result in bad habits can interfere with
learning good habits.
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47. References
• Latash ML, Lestienne F, editors. Motor control and learning. Berlin:
Springer; 2006 Feb 7.
• Umphred DA, Lazaro RT. Neurological rehabilitation. Elsevier Health
Sciences; 2012 Aug 14.
• Summers JJ, editor. Approaches to the study of motor control and
learning. Elsevier; 1991 Dec 18.
• Danion F, Latash M. Motor control: theories, experiments, and
applications. Oxford University Press; 2010 Dec 16.
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