Chaotic features of rhythmic joint movement

The purpose of this study is to show the chaotic features of rhythmic joint movement. Depending on the experimental conditions, one (or both) elbow angle (s) was (were) measured by one (or two) goniometer (s). Pacing was provided for six different frequencies presented in random order. When the frequency of the pace increased, the fractal dimension and first Lyapunov exponent tended to increase. Moreover, the first Lyapunov exponent obtained positive values for all of the observed data. These results indicate that there is chaos in rhythmic joint movement and that the larger the frequency, the more chaotic the joint movement becomes.