Kinematics of arm joint rotations in cerebellar and unskilled subjects associated with the inability to throw fast.

Cerebellar subjects and unskilled throwers cannot produce fast arm movements when throwing. We investigated the arm movement kinematics associated with this lack of skill. Cerebellar subjects and matched controls, and skilled throwers throwing with their skilled (dominant) and unskilled (nondominant) arms, were instructed to make slow, medium, and fast 3-D overarm throws from a sitting position. Only the fast throws were analyzed in detail. Joint motions were computed from angular positions of arm segments recorded with search coils. When throwing, both the cerebellar group and the unskilled-arm group had slower arm movements, and slower elbow extension and wrist flexion velocities than their reference groups. They also had similar magnitudes of many kinematic parameters, e.g., both cerebellar and unskilled groups had similar elbow extension and wrist flexion velocities. Compared to their reference groups, both the cerebellar and unskilled-arm groups also had a smaller elbow extension acceleration, a smaller shoulder adduction deceleration, and the absence of a large elbow extension deceleration before ball release. Similar decreases in joint velocities and in joint accelerations and decelerations in the cerebellar and unskilled groups are consistent with the idea that the absence of the skill of throwing fast in both groups is associated with an inability to exploit interaction torques.