Musculoskeletal Mechanics and Modeling

A large part of our central nervous system is dedicated to control of movement. To gain a fuller understanding of the sensorimotor control of movement, we must study both the central nervous system and the musculoskeletal system that it controls. A control engineer would never design a control system before fully understanding the characteristics of the controlled plant. Similarly, the biological motor control system cannot be understood fully by studying the control circuits while ignoring the inherent properties of the musculoskeletal system that it must control. Models that capture the mechanical dynamics of the musculoskeletal system, especially when they are combined with the models of the control circuits in the central nervous system, allow us to study the control of movement in its entirety.