[O-NV-05-4] Muscle Proprioceptive Information Facilitates Throwing Accurately with Prism Glasses
Keywords:Prism adaptation, Muscle proprioception, Throwing
PURPOSE
Prism adaptation requires the integration of visual and motor information for proper acquisition. Although the role of visual feedback is understood, the nature of the motor information necessary for the development of the adaptation remains unknown. This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of muscle proprioception on throwing performance while looking through a right-left reversing prism.
METHODS
The participants were twelve right-handed healthy persons. The subjects threw plastic balls at a cross drawn at shoulder level on an acrylic board and placed 1.5 m away. The subjects wore a wrist weight bracelet（1.0 kg）during different phases of the experiment. A baseline throwing performance was obtained by asking the subjects to simply throw 24 balls to the cross（PRE）.
At the end of this stage, subjects put on prism glasses and were instructed to throw 24 balls with the same arm and in the same way as before. The prisms were then removed, and the subjects threw 24 balls. The location of each balls impact was measured in relation to the horizontal and vertical axis of the cross. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at AUHW（No. 1627）.
RESULTS
A two-way repeated measures ANOVA test was conducted on all PRE throws in the two experimental groups and confirmed that there were no statistically significant differences between throws in distance from center on the horizontal axis made without bracelets. Regarding the vertical axis, there was a significant difference between the throws made with and without the weights during the PRE phase.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggested that the internal representation of motor memory incorporates information about load conditions and can be fully retrieved only when the original training condition is restored.
Prism adaptation requires the integration of visual and motor information for proper acquisition. Although the role of visual feedback is understood, the nature of the motor information necessary for the development of the adaptation remains unknown. This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of muscle proprioception on throwing performance while looking through a right-left reversing prism.
METHODS
The participants were twelve right-handed healthy persons. The subjects threw plastic balls at a cross drawn at shoulder level on an acrylic board and placed 1.5 m away. The subjects wore a wrist weight bracelet（1.0 kg）during different phases of the experiment. A baseline throwing performance was obtained by asking the subjects to simply throw 24 balls to the cross（PRE）.
At the end of this stage, subjects put on prism glasses and were instructed to throw 24 balls with the same arm and in the same way as before. The prisms were then removed, and the subjects threw 24 balls. The location of each balls impact was measured in relation to the horizontal and vertical axis of the cross. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at AUHW（No. 1627）.
RESULTS
A two-way repeated measures ANOVA test was conducted on all PRE throws in the two experimental groups and confirmed that there were no statistically significant differences between throws in distance from center on the horizontal axis made without bracelets. Regarding the vertical axis, there was a significant difference between the throws made with and without the weights during the PRE phase.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggested that the internal representation of motor memory incorporates information about load conditions and can be fully retrieved only when the original training condition is restored.