Walking balance control in different settings: Effects of walking speed and biological sex.

Background: Previous research has suggested that spatiotemporal step parameters differ between settings; however, it remains unclear how different settings influence walking balance control.

Research Question: How do settings and sex influence walking balance control during walking at different speeds for young adults?

Methods: Forty-two adults (21 male (23 ± 4 years), 21 female (24 ± 5 years)) completed overground walking trials in four settings: laboratory (10 m), hallway, indoor open, and outdoor pathway (all 20 m) at three self-selected speeds (slow, preferred, fast) following verbal instructions. Participants wore 17 inertial sensors (Xsens Awinda, Movella, Henderson, NV) to capture total body kinematics.

Spatiotemporal walking performance in different settings: effects of walking speed and sex.

Background: Understanding the factors that influence walking is important as quantitative walking assessments have potential to inform health risk assessments. Wearable technology innovation has enabled quantitative walking assessments to be conducted in different settings. Understanding how different settings influence quantitative walking performance is required to better utilize the health-related potential of quantitative walking assessments.

The Associations Among Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, Self-Criticism, and Concern Over Mistakes in Response to Biomechanical Feedback in Athletes.

Athletes regularly face the possibility of failing to meet expectations in training and competition, and it is essential that they are equipped with strategies to facilitate coping after receiving performance feedback. Self-compassion is a potential resource to help athletes manage the various setbacks that arise in sport over and above other psychological resources. The primary purpose of this research was to explore how athletes respond to objective biomechanical feedback given after a performance.

Don't get tripped up: Haptic modalities alter gait characteristics during obstacle crossing.

The attentional capacity required of haptic modalities while obstacle crossing may limit their effectiveness. Therefore, this study examined the attentional demands of haptic modalities during obstacle crossing. Nineteen healthy young adults walked across a 10 m laboratory floor within two modality blocks using either: 1) light touch on a railing, or 2) pulling haptic anchors.

Ipsilesional Motor Cortex Activation with High-force Unimanual Handgrip Contractions of the Less-affected Limb in Participants with Stroke.

Stroke is a leading cause of severe disability that often presents with unilateral motor impairment. Conventional rehabilitation approaches focus on motor practice of the affected limb and aim to suppress brain activity in the contralesional hemisphere. Conversely, exercise of the less-affected limb promotes contralesional brain activity which is typically viewed as contraindicated in stroke recovery due to the interhemispheric inhibitory influence onto the ipsilesional hemisphere.

Evaluating Intrinsic Fall Risk Factors After Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: Distinguishing Fallers From Nonfallers.

Objective: To determine whether performance on measures of lower extremity muscle strength, sensory function, postural control, gait speed, and balance self-efficacy could distinguish fallers from nonfallers among ambulatory individuals with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Community.

Investigating proactive balance control in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury while walking on a known slippery surface.

Background: Up to 83 % of individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) experience ≥ 1 fall/year. Individuals with iSCI employ more cautious walking strategies than able-bodied (AB) individuals during normal walking. Whether individuals with iSCI can use proactive balance strategies to adapt to expected slip perturbations/reduce slip severity while walking has not been previously assessed.

Design characteristics and inclusion of evidence-based exercise recommendation in fall prevention community exercise programs for older adults in Canada: a national descriptive self-report study.

Background: Training balance through exercise is an effective strategy to reduce falls in community-dwelling older adults. Evidence-based fall prevention exercise recommendations have been proposed, specifying that exercise programs should: (1) provide a high challenge to balance, (2) be offered for a least three hours per week, (3) be provided on an ongoing basis. Community exercise programs have the potential to deliver effective fall prevention exercise; however, current design characteristics and whether they include the recommendations is not known.

The measurement properties of the Lean-and-Release test in people with incomplete spinal cord injury or disease.

Objective: To evaluate test-retest reliability, agreement, and convergent validity of the Lean-and-Release test for the assessment of reactive stepping among individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury or disease (iSCI/D).

Design: Multi-center cross-sectional multiple test design.

Setting: SCI/D rehabilitation hospital and biomechanics laboratory.

Trunk balance control during beam walking improves with the haptic anchors without the interference of an auditory-cognitive task in older adults.

Background: Prior studies have shown that older adults reduced trunk acceleration when walking on a balance beam with haptic inputs provided by anchors; however, it is unknown whether these benefits would remain in the presence of a concurrent cognitive task.

Research Question: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a cognitive task on balance control when using the anchors while walking on a balance beam in older adults.

Methods: Thirty older adults participated in this study.

Reactive balance responses to an unexpected slip perturbation in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury.

Background: Frequent falls while walking among individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury may suggest impairments in reactive balance control; however, reactive balance control during walking has not been studied in this population. The objective was to compare reactive balance control with respect to changes in margin of stability, onset of arm and heel responses, and onset and magnitude of muscle activity following an unexpected slip perturbation in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury and able-bodied individuals.

Methods: Kinematic and electromyography data were obtained during normal walking and one unexpected slip.

The effects of light touch on gait and dynamic balance during normal and tandem walking in individuals with an incomplete spinal cord injury.

Study Design: Prospective cross-sectional study OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of adding haptic input during walking in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI).

Setting: Research laboratory.

Methods: Participants with iSCI and age- and sex-matched able-bodied (AB) individuals walked normally (SCI n = 18, AB n = 17) and in tandem (SCI n = 12, AB n = 17).

Adding Light Touch While Walking in Older Adults: Biomechanical and Neuromotor Effects.

Adding haptic input may improve balance control and help prevent falls in older adults. This study examined the effects of added haptic input via light touch on a railing while walking. Participants (N = 53, 75.

Haptic input and balance control: An exploratory study examining normative messaging.

This study examined the effect of descriptive norm messaging information on the relationship between haptic input and balance control. Participants were randomly assigned to either a message group where they balanced with haptic input after receiving a descriptive norm message about the positive effect of haptic input or a control group. Findings from an analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between the two groups.

To what extent do older adult community exercise programs in Winnipeg, Canada address balance and include effective fall prevention exercise? A descriptive self-report study.

Background: Effective fall prevention exercise for community-dwelling older adults requires (i) challenging balance exercise, (ii) offered at least 3 hrs/ week, and (iii) on an ongoing basis, to reduce falls. Community exercise programs are a potential implementation strategy for fall prevention exercise; however, the extent to which they address balance and include effective fall prevention exercise is unknown. Study objectives were to describe program delivery, exercise design, and assessment characteristics of older adult community exercise programs in Winnipeg, Canada; determine if they included effective fall prevention exercise; determine the balance challenge and components of postural control addressed in the most- and least-frequently reported exercises.

Comparing the effect of haptic modalities on walking balance control: Is using one or two arms better?

Background: Adding haptic input by lightly touching a railing or using haptic anchors may improve walking balance control. Typical use of the railing(s) and haptic anchors requires the use of one and two arms in an extended position, respectively. It is unclear whether it is arm configuration and/or the number of arms used or the addition of sensory input that affects walking balance control.

Modulation of the Hoffmann reflex in the tibialis anterior with a change in posture.

Hoffmann (H-) reflex amplitudes in plantar flexor soleus muscle are modulated by posture, yet dorsiflexor tibialis anterior (TA) H-reflex parameters have sparingly been studied. The purpose was to investigate modulation of the TA H-reflex when postural demands are increased from sitting to standing. In this study, data from 18 participants (Age: 25 ± 4 years, Height: 170.

Are there attentional demands associated with haptic modalities while walking in young, healthy adults?

Study Design: A prospective, observational study.

Objectives: To assess the attentional demands of using haptic modalities during walking using a multi-task paradigm in young, healthy adults.

Setting: Biomechanics of Balance and Movement (BBAM) Lab, University of Saskatchewan.

Haptic information provided by anchors and the presence of cognitive tasks contribute separately to reducing postural sway in young adults.

Background: Haptic information provided by the anchors reduces postural sway while standing upright. It is unclear whether this benefit would remain in the presence of cognitive tasks combined with a more challenging postural task.

Research Question: Our aim was to investigate the effects of the anchors and visual and auditory cognitive tasks on postural control in young adults in a challenging balancing task.

Walking Stability During Normal Walking and Its Association with Slip Intensity Among Individuals with Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury.

Background: Ambulatory individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) experience frequent falls suggesting impairments in their balance control. Individuals with iSCI are more stable during normal walking as compared to able-bodied (AB) individuals; however, it is not known whether this increased stability helps prevent hazardous slips.

Objective: To compare walking stability during normal walking between iSCI and AB individuals, and to study the association between stability during normal walking and the intensity of an unexpected slip perturbation.

Haptic information and cognitive-visual task reduce postural sway in faller and non-faller older adults.

Understanding the effects of haptic input while performing a cognitive-visual task on postural control can broaden comprehension of the functional integration hypothesis in older adults with and without a history of falls. We aimed to investigate the effect of haptic input provided by light touch (LT) and the anchors while performing a cognitive-visual task in faller and non-faller older adults when standing upright. Twenty-two fallers and twenty-two non-fallers older adults participated in this study.

Current state of balance assessment during transferring, sitting, standing and walking activities for the spinal cord injured population: A systematic review.

Context: Comprehensive balance measures with high clinical utility and sound psychometric properties are needed to inform the rehabilitation of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Objective: To identify the balance measures used in the SCI population, and to evaluate their clinical utility, psychometric properties and comprehensiveness.

Methods: Medline, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database were searched from the earliest record to October 19/16.

The Feasibility and Validity of Body-Worn Sensors to Supplement Timed Walking Tests for Children with Neurological Conditions.

Aims: The 10-meter walk test (10 mWT) and Timed Up and Go (TUG) are assessments of speed/time with a ceiling effect in pediatric populations. This study aimed to (1) determine whether collecting spatiotemporal data with inertial sensors (Mobility Lab, APDM Inc.) during these tests improves their discriminative validity, and (2) evaluate the clinical feasibility of Mobility Lab.

Measuring balance confidence after spinal cord injury: the reliability and validity of the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale.

Context/objective: The study objectives were to evaluate the test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and discriminative validity of the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI).

Design: Prospective, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Laboratory.