Real-Time Postural Disturbance Detection Through Sensor Fusion of EEG and Motion Data Using Machine Learning.

Millions of people around the globe are impacted by falls annually, making it a significant public health concern. Falls are particularly challenging to detect in real time, as they often occur suddenly and with little warning, highlighting the need for innovative detection methods. This study aimed to assist in the advancement of an accurate and efficient fall detection system using electroencephalogram (EEG) data to recognize the reaction to a postural disturbance.

Localizing EEG Recordings Associated With a Balance Threat During Unexpected Postural Translations in Young and Elderly Adults.

Balance perturbations are accompanied by global cortical activation that increases in magnitude when postural perturbations are unexpected, potentially due to the addition of a startle response. A specific site for best recording the response to unexpected destabilization has not been identified. We hypothesize that a single sensor located near to subcortical brainstem mechanisms could serve as a marker for the response to unpredictable postural events.

Electrodermal and postural responses in dizzy adults: Diagnostic indicators of vestibular migraine.

Introduction: No reliable biometric measurement of vestibular involvement with migraine is currently available.

Objective: Measures of autonomic nervous system and postural responses could serve as quantifiable indicators of vestibular involvement with migraine.

Methods: A convenience sample of 22 young healthy adults (34±9 years old) and 23 young adults (34±8 years old) diagnosed with vestibular migraine (VM) participated.

Design and usability of a system for the study of head orientation.

The ability to control head orientation relative to the body is a multisensory process that mainly depends on proprioceptive, vestibular, and visual sensory systems. A system to study the sensory integration of head orientation was developed and tested. A test seat with a five-point harness was assembled to provide passive postural support.

The effects of visual context on visual-vestibular mismatch revealed by electrodermal and postural response measures.

Background: No objective criteria exist for diagnosis and treatment of visual-vestibular mismatch (VVM).

Objective: To determine whether measures of electrodermal activity (EDA) and trunk acceleration will identify VVM when exposed to visual-vestibular conflict.

Methods: A modified VVM questionnaire identified the presence of VVM (+ VVM) in 13 of 23 young adults (34 ± 8 years) diagnosed with vestibular migraine.

The Untapped Potential of Virtual Reality in Rehabilitation of Balance and Gait in Neurological Disorders.

Dynamic systems theory transformed our understanding of motor control by recognizing the continual interaction between the organism and the environment. Movement could no longer be visualized simply as a response to a pattern of stimuli or as a demonstration of prior intent; movement is context dependent and is continuously reshaped by the ongoing dynamics of the world around us. Virtual reality is one methodological variable that allows us to control and manipulate that environmental context.

Visual-vestibular mismatch correlates with headache.

Background: Dizziness affects 20-30%of the general population. A subgroup of dizzy patients with chronic migraine suffers vertigo implying that the migraine has a vestibular component. Vestibular migraine remains a diagnosis of exclusion based on history.

Effects of wearing a head-mounted display during a standard clinical test of dynamic balance.

Background: The use of virtual reality (VR) in clinical settings has increased with the introduction of affordable, easy-to-use head-mounted displays (HMDs). However, some have raised concerns about the effects that HMDs have on posture and locomotion, even without the projection of a virtual scene, which may be different across ages.

Research Question: How does HMD wear impact the kinematic measures in younger and older adults?

Methods: Twelve healthy young and sixteen older adults participated in two testing conditions: 1) TUG with no HMD and 2) TUG with an HMD displaying a scene of the actual environment (TUG).

Balance confidence and turning behavior as a measure of fall risk.

Background: Diminished balance confidence increases the risk of a fall and falls that occur when turning during walking are associated with an eightfold increase in hip fractures compared to when walking in a straight trajectory. Although an effect of aging on turning is revealed, the role of gender during turning is not yet clear.

Research Question: How can balance confidence impact turning behavior in younger, middle-aged, and older men and women?

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 22 young adults (11 women), 13 middle-aged adults (9 women), and 13 older adults (6 women).

Visual dependence affects the motor behavior of older adults during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test.

Background: Older adults show greater postural instabilities under misleading visual cues relative to younger adults. We investigated the effects of age-related visual dependence on motor performance under increased attention demands by adding a motor task and visual stimulus to the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test sub-components.

Method: We designed a cross-sectional quantitative study.

Tracking the evolution of virtual reality applications to rehabilitation as a field of study.

Background: Application of virtual reality (VR) to rehabilitation is relatively recent with clinical implementation very rapidly following technological advancement and scientific discovery. Implementation is often so rapid that demonstrating intervention efficacy and establishing research priorities is more reactive than proactive. This study used analytical tools from information science to examine whether application of VR to rehabilitation has evolved as a distinct field of research or is primarily a methodology in core disciplines such as biomedical engineering, medicine and psychology.

Influence of Visual Dependence on Inter-Segmental Coordination during Upright Stance in Cerebral Palsy.

The presence of visual dependence as an influential factor on the development of functional stability in ambulatory individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) was studied in 22 adults with spastic bilateral CP, 11 of whom were considered visually dependent, and 18 healthy adults. Participants stood upright during pitch plane disturbances of the visual field and support surface. Intersegmental coordination behaviors were assessed by fitting trajectories of adjacent body segments to an ellipse.

Role of Gender in Dual-Tasking Timed Up and Go Tests: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Gender plays a role in cognitive performance. Yet the selection of a secondary task, an important paradigm in studies of posture control, has not considered gender as a variable. We explored whether different cognitive tasks differentially influence performance during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test in men and women.

Visual dependence affects postural sway responses to continuous visual field motion in individuals with cerebral palsy.

Unlabelled: The current study aimed to explore the impact of visual dependence on sensorimotor coupling of postural sway and visual motion in adults and teens with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). We hypothesized that individuals with CP would exhibit greater magnitudes of sway than healthy individuals, and the presence of visual dependence (VD) would produce instability in the direction of visual motion. Participants stood in a virtual environment in which the visual scene remained static or continuously rotated 30 degree/second in pitch-up or pitch-down.

The quest to apply VR technology to rehabilitation: tribulations and treasures.

The papers that follow stem from a symposium presented at the International Society for Posture and Gait Research (ISPGR) in Seville, Spain, in July 2015. Four speakers were charged with presenting their methods of applying virtual reality (VR) technology to obtain meaningful rehabilitation outcomes. The symposium aims to explore characteristics of VR that modify mechanisms supporting motor relearning.

Posturography using the Wii Balance Board™: A feasibility study with healthy adults and adults post-stroke.

Background: Posturography systems that incorporate force platforms are considered to assess balance and postural control with greater sensitivity and objectivity than conventional clinical tests. The Wii Balance Board (WBB) system has been shown to have similar performance characteristics as other force platforms, but with lower cost and size.

Objectives: To determine the validity and reliability of a freely available WBB-based posturography system that combined the WBB with several traditional balance assessments, and to assess the performance of a cohort of stroke individuals with respect to healthy individuals.

Using Virtual Technology to Promote Functional Communication in Aphasia: Preliminary Evidence From Interactive Dialogues With Human and Virtual Clinicians.

Purpose: We investigated the feasibility of using a virtual clinician (VC) to promote functional communication abilities of persons with aphasia (PWAs). We aimed to determine whether the quantity and quality of verbal output in dialogues with a VC would be the same or greater than those with a human clinician (HC).

Method: Four PWAs practiced dialogues for 2 sessions each with a HC and VC.

Emergence of virtual reality as a tool for upper limb rehabilitation: incorporation of motor control and motor learning principles.

The primary focus of rehabilitation for individuals with loss of upper limb movement as a result of acquired brain injury is the relearning of specific motor skills and daily tasks. This relearning is essential because the loss of upper limb movement often results in a reduced quality of life. Although rehabilitation strives to take advantage of neuroplastic processes during recovery, results of traditional approaches to upper limb rehabilitation have not entirely met this goal.

Visual conflict and cognitive load modify postural responses to vibrotactile noise.

Background: Underlying the increased incidence of falls during multitasking is a reduced ability to detect or attend to the sensory information signaling postural instability. Adding noise to a biological system has been shown to enhance the detection and transmission of weakened or sub-threshold cutaneous signals. If stochastic resonance is to become an effective adjunct to rehabilitation, we need to determine whether vibrotactile noise can be effective when added to an environment presenting with other sensory noise.

Postural responses of adults with cerebral palsy to combined base of support and visual field rotation.

We employed a virtual environment to examine the postural behaviors of adults with cerebral palsy (CP). Four adults with CP (22-32 years) and nine healthy adults (21-27 years) were tested with a Rod and Frame protocol. They then stood quietly on a platform within a three-wall virtual environment.

Head stabilization shows visual and inertial dependence during passive stimulation: implications for virtual rehabilitation.

Sensorimotor coordination relies on the fine calibration and integration of visual, vestibular, and somatosensory input. Using virtual environments (VE) allows for the dissociation of visual and inertial inputs to manipulate human behavioral outputs. Our goal was to employ VE technology in a novel manner to investigate how head stabilization is affected by spatiotemporal properties of dynamic visual input when combined with passive motion on a linear sled.

Fear of falling and balance ability in older men: the priest study.

Studies examining fear of falling among older adult men remain limited. The objectives of this study were to compare balance confidence in 2 age cohorts of older clergy and identify predictive determinants of balance confidence in a liturgical research initiative. Participants included 131 community-dwelling Roman Catholic priests age 60-97 yr living in religious communities in 10 mid-Atlantic states.