Moving the Arms to Activate the Legs

In Brief Recent studies on neurologically intact individuals and individuals with spinal cord injury indicate that rhythmic upper limb muscle activation has an excitatory effect on lower limb muscle activation during locomotor-like tasks. This finding suggests that gait rehabilitation therapy after neurological injury should incorporate simultaneous upper limb and lower limb rhythmic exercise to take advantage of neural coupling. Upper-limb exertion provides an excitatory effect on lower-limb muscle recruitment during rhythmic movement of the arms and legs.