This semester, I am teaching a class called "Neural Control of Human Movement." This is a very challenging course for both myself and the students, because the nervous system is very complex. To me, it is the most complex and difficult system in the body to understand. I am going to do a series of blog posts discussing how the nervous system works with the muscular system to produce coordinated movement.
When we think of voluntary movement, such as walking, running, hitting or catching a baseball, etc., we often focus primarily on the muscles and the bones involved in the movement. What we fail to consider is that none of this motion would be possible without the nervous system. This simplified view of movement has given rise to a very commonly misused term called "muscle memory." I hear sportscasters, coaches, and even so called scientists use this term often, and every time I hear it I cringe. The ESPN segment called
"Sports Science" was airing the other day and the host used the term "muscle memory" to describe how a baseball player caught a ball.
Why is "muscle memory" not correct? The biggest reason is that there is no memory structure in the muscle. A skeletal muscle cannot contract unless it is stimulated by the nervous system. Now, it is true that through practice and experience, movements become more coordinated, efficient, and require less attentional demands, and many people want to label this as "muscle memory." The next few blog posts will discuss the interaction between the nervous system and the skeletal system, and the actual processes that occur that lead to an improvement in performance that involves both the nervous and muscular systems.
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