Phasic activity in the human back muscle erector spinae (ES) was studied during repetitive hand movements. The hand movements were elicited voluntarily by the subject or induced passively by the experimenter through a servomotor or through cyclical electrical stimulation of muscles acting about the wrist. The aim of the study was to determine whether the rhythmical activation of ES was of supraspinal, intersegmental or segmental origin. 2. When voluntary rhythmical hand movements were performed as fast as possible, cyclical ES EMG bursts occurred at the same frequency. This frequency was significantly higher than that reached when the task was to contract the back muscles as rapidly as possible. This suggests that the ES activity during the fast hand movements was not generated by direct commands descending to the ES muscles from the motor area of the cerebral cortex responsible for voluntary back muscle activation. 3. During imposed rhythmical hand movements, ES EMG bursts remained entrained to the hand movements, even when movement frequencies far exceeded those attainable voluntarily either for the hand or the back. This showed that ES EMG responses could be evoked by the hand movements even when these were not generated by descending neural commands. Two alternative mechanisms of ES activation were considered: (a) propriospinal transmission of afferent input entering the spinal cord from the upper extremity; (b) afferent input from ES and other trunk muscles, responding to local oscillations transmitted mechanically from the hand to the lower back. 4. Activation of ES via proprioceptive signals from the forearm was unlikely since (a) simultaneous electrical stimulation of wrist extensor and wrist flexor muscles did not result in repetitive ES EMG bursting; (b) cyclical vibration of the wrist extensors did not evoke ES EMG bursting; (c) when the forearm was constrained and the hand was moved passively, the lower trunk accelerations and cyclical ES EMG both occurred at a harmonic of the hand movement frequency. 5. We conclude that the repetitive ES EMG bursting during hand movements was probably due to a local segmental reflex rather than to descending commands. Remote mechanical oscillations of the trunk caused by hand movements evidently elicited proprioceptive reflexes in ES that presumably contributed to trunk stabilization.
