Walking with robot-generated haptic forces in a virtual environment: a new approach to analyze lower limb coordination.

Background: Walking with a haptic tensile force applied to the hand in a virtual environment (VE) can induce adaptation effects in both chronic stroke and non-stroke individuals. These effects are reflected in spatiotemporal outcomes such as gait speed. However, the concurrent kinematic changes occurring in bilateral lower limb coordination have yet to be explored.

Adaptation and post-adaptation effects of haptic forces on locomotion in healthy young adults.

Background: Developing rehabilitation strategies to improve functional walking and postural control in patients is a priority for rehabilitation clinicians and researchers alike. One possible strategy is the use of sensory modalities to elicit adaptive locomotor gait patterns. This study aimed to explore to what extent haptic inputs, in the form of forward-leading tensile forces delivered to the hand, compared to no force, may lead to adaptation and post-adaptation effects on gait parameters, during and after the haptic exposure, respectively.

Assessment of joystick control during the performance of powered wheelchair driving tasks.

Background: Powered wheelchairs are essential for many individuals who have mobility impairments. Nevertheless, if operated improperly, the powered wheelchair poses dangers to both the user and to those in its vicinity. Thus, operating a powered wheelchair with some degree of proficiency is important for safety, and measuring driving skills becomes an important issue to address.

Reference frame conversions for repeated arm movements.

The aim of this study was to further understand how the brain represents spatial information for shaping aiming movements to targets. Both behavioral and neurophysiological studies have shown that the brain represents spatial memory for reaching targets in an eye-fixed frame. To date, these studies have only shown how the brain stores and updates target locations for generating a single arm movement.