Analysis of motor control and kinesthetic perception in patients with progressive muscular dystrophy

The purpose of this study was to examine motor control and kinesthetic perception of upper extremity in patients with Duchenne progressive muscular dystrophy. Nine normal subjects and nine subjects with muscular dystrophy performed a pursuit tracking task with step wave target by means of isometric contraction, and simultaneously estimated magnitude of muscular tension during tracking behavior. The results were as follows: (1) the muscular electrical activity measured from the EMGs was directly proportional to the muscular tension for both the normal and the muscular dystrophy groups, (2) the speed of step response for the muscular dystrophy group was slower than that for the normal group, and (3) the exponent of power function for the muscular dystrophy group tended to be smaller than that for the normal group. These results were discussed in terms of the stage of disability in progressive muscular dystrophy.