Comments on the functional asymmetries of the lower extremities.

Several tasks have been used to establish laterality in the lower extremities, but most of them are not satisfactory. The lower extremities are involved in various posturomotor, locomotor and operant activities, and several kinds of differentiated bilateralizations of the lower limbs can be identified. A distinction between leggedness and footedness seems warranted. The complexity of the functional asymmetries of the lower extremities requires new methods in both research and clinical testing, with elecctrophysiological procedures as a promising approach. Available evidence indicates that the functional asymmetries of the axial neuromotor mechanisms have to be considered in the study and the assessment of those of the lower extremities.