Modeling Spinal Sensorimotor Control for Reach Task

The spinal sensorimotor control system executes movement instructions from the central controller in the brain that plans the task in terms of global requirements. Spinal circuits serve as a local regulator that tunes the neuromuscular apparatus to an optimal state for task execution. We hypothesize that reach tasks are controlled by a set of feedforward and feedback descending commands for trajectory and final posture, respectively. This paper presents the use of physiologically realistic models of the spinal sensorimotor system to demonstrate the feasibility of such dual control for reaching movements