Ankle Ergometer Experimental Setup

The experimental setup consisted of a vertically positioned custom-made ankle ergometer (OT Bioelettronica, Turin, Italy). Participants were seated on a chair with the dominant leg held in the ankle ergometer with straps at the foot, ankle, and knee. The hip and the knee were flexed at ∼90° and the ankle was placed at ∼100° of plantar flexion. The foot and the ankle were maintained with straps on an adjustable footplate connected in series with a calibrated load cell (CCt transducer s. a.s. Turin, Italy). The signal recorded with the force transducer was amplified (x200) and sampled at 2048 Hz with an external analog-to-digital (A/D) converter (OT-Bioelettronica, Turin, Italy). The force signal, recorded with OTbiolab software (OT-Bioelettronica), was synchronized with the electromyogram. Visual feedback of both the guided pattern and the performed force signal was displayed on a monitor positioned 1 m from the participants’ eyes.