Editorial: Neuromuscular and Kinematic Dynamics in Human Movement Adaptation

Rajat Emanuel Singh^1*Jennifer Davies²Catherine Purcell²

• ¹Northwestern College, Orange City, United States
• ²Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom

Our neuromuscular system exhibits plasticity throughout the lifespan and adopts adaptive strategies as compensatory responses following injury or neurological disorder. However, examining these changes is challenging when relying solely on superficial qualitative assessments and, more importantly, in the absence of a guiding theoretical framework. Over the past decade or two, several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these adaptive mechanisms, including dynamic interaction theory and the concepts of motor redundancy Singh et al. (2018b) and motor abundance Latash (2010Latash ( , 2012)), which relate to modifications in kinematic and kinetic degrees of freedom. When integrated with appropriate experimental designs and analytical methods, these theoretical perspectives can provide deeper insights into adaptive and developmental changes in human movement. Our previous studies have incorporated such theoretical, experimental, and analytical approaches to examine adaptive strategies Singh et al. (2018aSingh et al. ( ,b, 2020Singh et al. ( , 2023)).Nevertheless, a substantial gap remains in the literature regarding the characterization of adaptive and developmental neuromuscular changes during human motion. Therefore, this Research Topic assembles six original research articles and one brief research report (*) that highlight recent trends and findings on neuromuscular plasticity during pathological and developmental movement. Below is the summary of submissions made to our research topic, categorized based on injury, neurological disorder, and lifespan changes in neuromuscular control. abilities several years after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Participants were classified into three groups: (1) copers (COPs), (2) non-copers (NP), and (3) healthy controls (HC). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activity across these groups. The study revealed a shift in brain activity from somatosensory cortical areas toward subcortical regions, including the cerebellum and basal ganglia, where regional homogeneity was higher in the COPs group. This enhanced subcortical synchronization suggests an efficient return to sport among COPs. Four studies in this collection address the complex adaptations seen in common neurological disorders, exploring conditions from stroke and cerebral palsy (CP) to Parkinson's disease. Komaris et al. (2025) performed muscle synergy analysis on stroke patients to determine the basis of motor impairment; they found that the muscle synergies' dimensions and composition are preserved, whereas the temporal activation 31 coefficient varies, suggesting flexible recruitment of fixed motor patterns. Researchers in this study 32 suggested that targeted intervention of these altered temporal activations could aid in stroke rehabilitation. Older adults displayed longer double-support and shorter swing phases than younger adults, along with higher muscle activation, indicating age-related differences in neural control.