The motor system is the network of central and peripheral nervous-system structures that plan, initiate, coordinate, and execute voluntary and involuntary movement. It is organized as a hierarchy. At the highest level, association and motor cortices formulate the intention and program of movement; the primary motor …
The motor system is the network of central and peripheral nervous-system structures that plan, initiate, coordinate, and execute voluntary and involuntary movement. It is organized as a hierarchy. At the highest level, association and motor cortices formulate the intention and program of movement; the primary motor cortex issues commands that descend through the corticospinal and related tracts. The basal ganglia and cerebellum operate as parallel modulatory loops, the basal ganglia regulating the initiation, scaling, and selection of movement and the cerebellum refining timing, coordination, and error correction. Brainstem centers contribute to posture and locomotion, while spinal motor neurons constitute the final common pathway, transmitting signals through peripheral nerves across the neuromuscular junction to skeletal muscle. The mechanical properties of muscle and patterns of muscle activation translate neural commands into force and movement, observable in functions such as gait. Disruption at any level produces characteristic disorders. Degeneration within the basal ganglia, as in Parkinson's disease, yields tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and gait disturbance, and may be addressed by interventions such as deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus. Disorders of peripheral nerve, exemplified by Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, cause weakness and wasting, and broader dysfunction of motor and behavioral control bears on conditions ranging from neurodevelopmental to neurodegenerative disease.
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