Spinal stretch reflexes exploit musculoskeletal redundancy to support postural hand control

Motor behaviour is most efficiently controlled by only correcting disturbances or deviations that influence task success. It is currently thought that such sophisticated control is computed within a transcortical feedback pathway. Here we show that even the fastest spinal feedback pathway can produce corrective responses that adhere to this control scheme. We first applied small mechanical perturbations that flexed the elbow joint - stretching the triceps muscle - and simultaneously flexed or extended the wrist joint, displacing the hand various distances away from a central target. We then changed the arms orientation and applied the same joint perturbations, which reversed the mapping between joint motion and hand displacement. In all cases, we found that the triceps spinal stretch reflex was tuned to the hands displacement relative to the target, and not how the triceps muscle was stretched. Our findings reveal that the fastest spinal feedback pathway is capable of integrating and modulating feedback from multiple muscles to produce efficient corrective responses, forcing a re-evaluation of the how the nervous system derives the sophisticated control laws that support natural motor behaviour.