• 1 Introduction: Plans, strategies and actions.- 1.1 Categories of muscles.- 1.2 Problems of moving.- 1.3 A legacy.- 2 Mechanical properties of muscles.- 2.1 Review of muscle anatomy.- 2.2 Mechanical properties of muscle.- 2.3 Behaviour of isolated muscle stimulated at subtetanic rates.- 2.4 Muscle mechanics in intact humans.- 2.5 Effects of muscle properties on control of movement.- 2.6 A theory of movement control which makes use of the mechanical properties of muscle.- 3 The motor unit.- 3.1 The concept of the motor unit.- 3.2 Twitch and tonic muscle fibres.- 3.3 Physiological investigation of the motor unit.- 3.4 Histochemical and biochemical classification of muscle fibres.- 3.5 Some electrophysiological properties of motoneurones.- 3.6 Control of motor units and their recruitment order.- 3.7 The study of motor units in human physiology.- 3.8 Pathophysiology of the motor unit.- 4 Proprioceptors in muscles, joints and skin.- 4.1 Muscle receptors: I. The muscle spindle.- 4.2 Muscle receptors: II. Golgi tendon organs.- 4.3 Muscle receptors: III. Other types of ending.- 4.4 Joint receptors.- 4.5 Cutaneous mechanoreceptors.- 4.6 Recordings from human afferent nerve fibres.- 5 Reflex pathways in the spinal cord.- 5.1 Classification of nerve fibres.- 5.2 Anatomy of group I and II projections of the spinal cord.- 5.3 Reflex pathways from Ia muscle spindle afferents.- 5.4 Reflex pathways from Ib tendon organ afferents.- 5.5 Reflex pathways from group II muscle afferents and ‘flexor reflex afferents’.- 5.6 The Renshaw cell.- 5.7 Presynaptic inhibition.- 6 Investigating reflex pathways and their function.- 6.1 The tendon jerk.- 6.2 The H-reflex.- 6.3 Long latency stretch reflexes.- 6.4 Vibration reflexes.- 6.5 The servo hypothesis and ?-? coactivation.- 6.6 Investigationof activity in other reflex pathways using the H-reflex.- 6.7 Cutaneous reflexes.- 6.8 Pathophysiology of spinal reflexes.- 6.9 Movement without reflexes: deafferentation.- 7 Ascending and descending pathways of the spinal cord.- 7.1 Ascending pathways.- 7.2 Descending motor pathways.- 7.3 Summary of descending pathways.- 7.4 Investigating descending motor pathways in humans.- 8 Posture.- 8.1 The vestibular system.- 8.2 Quiet stance.- 8.3 Postural reflexes.- 8.4 Postural reflexes described in animals.- 8.5 Postural adjustments produced by voluntary movement.- 9 Cerebral cortex.- 9.1 Structure of cerebral cortex.- 9.2 Frontal motor areas of cortex.- 9.3 Electrical stimulation of the motor areas.- 9.4 Electrophysiology of the corticospinal projection.- 9.5 Sensory input to motor cortex.- 9.6 Non-primary motor areas.- 9.7 Lesions of descending pathways in humans and monkeys.- 9.8 Physiology and pathophysiology of human motor areas.- 10 The cerebellum.- 10.1 Cerebellar anatomy.- 10.2 Circuitry of the cerebellar cortex.- 10.3 Efferent pathways of the cerebellum.- 10.4 Electrophysiological studies of the cerebellum.- 10.5 Effects of cerebellar lesions.- 10.6 Adaptation and learning.- 10.7 Theories of cerebellar function.- 10.8 Studies of cerebellar dysfunction in humans.- 11 The basal ganglia.- 11.1 Anatomy.- 11.2 Electrophysiological recordings from behaving animals.- 11.3 Effects of lesions of the basal ganglia.- 11.4 Models of basal ganglia disease in humans.- 11.5 Pathophysiology of diseases of the basal ganglia in humans.

'Control of human voluntary movement is a difficult and even at times obscure subject ... or so I thought before I got round to reading John Rothwell's excellent pocket-sized textbook on the subject. ... The subject matter could too easily lapse into introspection, but Rothwell maintains the reader's interest by including excellent diagrams and illustrations and a fair amount of pathophysiology.' Nursing Times 'The author provides a comprehensive, unbiased review of current experimental evidence and theories.' Physiotherapy