Anticipation of direction and time of perturbation modulates the onset latency of trunk muscle responses during sitting perturbations

Trunk muscles are responsible for maintaining trunk stability during sitting. However, the effects of anticipation of perturbation on trunk muscle responses are not well understood. The objectives of this study were to identify the responses of trunk muscles to sudden support surface translations and quantify the effects of anticipation of direction and time of perturbation on the trunk neuromuscular responses. Twelve able-bodied individuals participated in the study. Participants were seated on a kneeling chair and support surface translations were applied in the forward and backward directions with and without direction and time of perturbation cues. The trunk started moving on average approximately 40 ms after the perturbation. During unanticipated perturbations, average latencies of the trunk muscle contractions were in the range between 103.4 and 117.4 ms. When participants anticipated the perturbations, trunk muscle latencies were reduced by 16.8 ± 10.0 ms and the time it took the trunk to reach maximum velocity was also reduced, suggesting a biomechanical advantage caused by faster muscle responses. These results suggested that trunk muscles have medium latency responses and use reflexive mechanisms. Moreover, anticipation of perturbation decreased trunk muscles latencies, suggesting that the central nervous system modulated readiness of the trunk based on anticipatory information.