The Contribution of Vestibulo-spinal Mechanisms to the Maintenance of Human Upright Posture

Abstract

The maintenance of upright stance in humans requires the integrative evaluation of vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive information. Recent experiments prove the existence of fast vestibulo-spinal reactions in humans. Their physiological significance for the compensation of sudden external displacements of the body is minor. For low frequency stabilization of the body, however, vestibulo-spinal afferents as well as vision and proprioception are important. Unilateral loss of vestibular function initially causes a tendency to fall to the ipsilateral side as well as nystagmus and vertigo. After the first days of compensation, the remaining functional disturbance can only be detected by exposing the patient to conflicting sensory reafferents or by reducing proprioceptive and visual inputs simultaneously. The loss of vestibular function not only alters low frequency stabilization and to some extent also reflex-like fast motor patterns, but also interferes with the selection of preprogrammed motor synergies.