Control strategy for stabilizing force with goal-equivalent joint torques is frequency-dependent during human hopping

Normal human locomotion requires the ability to control a complex, redundant neuromechanical system to repetitively cycle the legs in a stable manner. In a reduced paradigm of locomotion, hopping, we investigated the ability of human subjects to exploit motor redundancy in the legs to coordinate joint torques fluctuations to minimize force fluctuations generated against the ground. Although we saw invariant performance in terms of force stabilization across frequencies, we found that the role of joint torque coordination in stabilizing force was most important at slow hopping frequencies. Notably, the role of this coordinated variation strategy decreased as hopping frequency increased, giving way to an independent joint variation strategy. At high frequencies, the control strategy to stabilize force was more dependent on a direct reduction in ankle torque fluctuations. Through the systematic study of how joint-level variances affect task-level end-point function, we can gain insight into the underlying control strategies in place for automatically counteracting cycle-to-cycle deviations during normal human locomotion.