Synergistic control of human arm movement. A systematic review and perspective

In recent years, the hypothesis of synergistic control of movements has gained popularity. According to this hypothesis, muscle activity is organized into a small number of synergies, which facilitate the planning and execution of movements. The movements of the human upper limbs have also been actively studied within this paradigm. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine scientific articles that experimentally investigate various aspects of synergistic control during upper limb movements. The literature search was conducted in the scientific databases Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. Almost all selected articles confirm that, through appropriate algorithms, primarily matrix factorization, motor activity can be reduced to a combination of a limited number of synergies. However, these studies do not provide conclusions regarding the neural mechanisms underlying synergistic control during arm movements. Nonetheless, this paradigm has potential applications in assessing the functional state of the human motor system, as well as in the treatment and rehabilitation of arm dysfunctions. Furthermore, the concepts of synergistic control show promise in the field of robotics.