Rehabilitation using virtual gaming for Hospital and hOMe-Based training for the Upper limb in acute and subacute Stroke (RHOMBUS II): results of a feasibility randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the safety, feasibility and acceptability of the Neurofenix platform for upper-limb rehabilitation in acute and subacute stroke.

Design: A feasibility randomised controlled trial with a parallel process evaluation.

Setting: Acute Stroke Unit and participants' homes (London, UK).

Overview of Effects of Motor Learning Strategies in Neurologic and Geriatric Populations: A Systematic Mapping Review.

Objective: To provide a broad overview of the current state of research regarding the effects of 7 commonly used motor learning strategies to improve functional tasks within older neurologic and geriatric populations.

Data Sources: PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase were searched.

Study Selection: A systematic mapping review of randomized controlled trials was conducted regarding the effectiveness of 7 motor learning strategies-errorless learning, analogy learning, observational learning, trial-and-error learning, dual-task learning, discovery learning, and movement imagery-within the geriatric and neurologic population.

A "Conscious" Loss of Balance: Directing Attention to Movement Can Impair the Cortical Response to Postural Perturbations.

"Trying too hard" can interfere with skilled movement, such as sports and music playing. Postural control can similarly suffer when conscious attention is directed toward it ("conscious movement processing"; CMP). However, the neural mechanisms through which CMP influences balance remain poorly understood.

Riding waves to improve functioning: a quantitative evaluation of a Surf Week in individuals with chronic phase brain injury with six months follow-up.

Purpose: Environmental enrichment seems to enable people in the chronic phase of acquired brain injury (ABI) to experience new functional abilities and motor/coping strategies and consequently to become more adaptable which might prevent/reverse functional decline. This study describes the influence of a five-days Surf Week program on participants on physical function, self-efficacy, functional balance performance and self-perceived recovery.

Materials And Methods: A multiple-baseline single-case design was used.

Exploring the role of attention towards balance in chronic dizziness: Development of the Balance Vigilance Questionnaire.

Background And Purpose: Vigilance towards balance has been proposed to underpin various chronic dizziness disorders, including persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD). The objective of this study was to develop (through patient input) a validated balance-specific measure of vigilance that comprehensively assesses the varied ways in which this construct may manifest.

Methods: We developed the Balance Vigilance Questionnaire (Balance-VQ) through patient and clinician feedback, designed to assess vigilance towards balance.

The perceived control model of falling: developing a unified framework to understand and assess maladaptive fear of falling.

Background: fear of falling is common in older adults and can have a profound influence on a variety of behaviours that increase fall risk. However, fear of falling can also have potentially positive outcomes for certain individuals. Without progressing our understanding of mechanisms underlying these contrasting outcomes, it is difficult to clinically manage fear of falling.

Validating the Breathing Vigilance Questionnaire for use in dysfunctional breathing.

Background: Dysfunctional breathing is common among people with and without primary respiratory pathology. While anxiety can contribute to dysfunctional breathing, the underpinning mechanism is unclear. One explanation is that anxiety induces conscious, vigilant monitoring of breathing, disrupting "automatic" breathing mechanics.

Frailty, falls and poor functional mobility predict new onset of activity restriction due to concerns about falling in older adults: a prospective 12-month cohort study.

Purpose: Concerns about falling are common in older adults and often cause activity restriction. This can lead to physical deconditioning, falls and social isolation. However, not every concerned older adult will restrict their activities.

A distal external focus of attention facilitates compensatory coordination of body parts.

Many studies have shown that focusing on an intended movement effect that is farther away from the body (distal external focus) results in performance benefits relative to focusing on an effect that is closer to the body (proximal external focus) or focusing on the body itself (internal focus) (see, Chua, Jimenez-Diaz, Lewthwaite, Kim & Wulf, 2021). Furthermore, the advantages of a distal external focus seem to be particularly pronounced in skilled performers (Singh & Wulf, 2020). The present study examined whether such benefits of more distal attentional focus may be associated with enhanced functional variability.

The Effects of Conscious Movement Processing on the Neuromuscular Control of Posture.

Maintaining balance is thought to primarily occur sub-consciously. Occasionally, however, individuals will direct conscious attention towards balance, e.g.

Individual differences in working memory capacity and conscious processing do not explain explicit and implicit learning outcomes in physical education.

This study examined the effects of explicit versus implicit learning methods on motor learning and self-efficacy of 11-to 14-year old students (n = 81) practicing the basketball layup during physical education. The main aim was to test the effects of students' verbal working memory capacity (WMC) and propensity for conscious motor processing (CMP) on explicit and implicit learning outcomes. The students practiced basketball layups for three weeks (one session/week) during regular PE classes under practice conditions that either promoted explicit or implicit learning.

Pilot study of physiotherapist-led versus music therapist-led breathing control exercises for young adults living with breathing pattern disorder: a randomised controlled trial protocol.

Introduction: Breathing pattern disorder (BPD) is an abnormal breathing pattern associated with biochemical, biomechanical and psychophysiological changes. While physiotherapy is often offered, limited evidence-based therapies for BPD are available. Music therapy-based singing exercises have been shown to improve quality of life for individuals with respiratory conditions and may also be beneficial for individuals living with BPD.

Optimal Training for Movement Acquisition and Transfer: Does "Externally Focused" Visual Biofeedback Promote Implicit Motor Learning?

Context: Visual biofeedback has been shown to facilitate injury-resistant movement acquisition in adolescent athletes. Visual biofeedback is typically thought to foster implicit learning by stimulating athletes to focus attention externally (on movement outcome). However, biofeedback may also induce explicit learning if the athlete uses the visual information to consciously guide movement execution (via an internal focus).

Weighting for the Beat: Using a Dance Cue to Facilitate Turning in People with Parkinson's Disease and Freezing of Gait.

Freezing of gait (FOG) can severely compromise daily functioning in people with Parkinson's disease. Inability to initiate a step from FOG is likely underpinned, at least in part, by a deficient preparatory weight-shift. Conscious attempts to weight-shift in preparation to step can improve success of initiating forward steps following FOG.

Balance capacity influences the effects of conscious movement processing on postural control in older adults.

Older adults rely increasingly on conscious processes to control balance. While this could be in response to age-related declines in balance capacity, it is unclear whether such strategy is adaptive or not. We investigated whether balance capacity modified the effects of conscious movement processing (CMP) on postural control in older adults.

Standing up to threats: Translating the two-system model of fear to balance control in older adults.

The 'two-system' view of fear builds on traditional conceptualisations of emotion; proposing that the mechanisms responsible for behavioural and physiological responses to threat may be distinct from those underpinning the (conscious) emotional experience itself. We empirically tested this notion within a novel, applied context of social and economic importance: fear of falling in older adults. Older adults stood on the edge of a raised platform and were stratified based on whether they reported fear in response to this postural threat.

General estimates of the energy cost of walking in people with different levels and causes of lower-limb amputation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Energy cost of walking (ECw) is an important determinant of walking ability in people with a lower-limb amputation. Large variety in estimates of ECw has been reported, likely because of the heterogeneity of this population in terms of level and cause of amputation and walking speed.

Objectives: To assess (1) differences in ECw between people with and without a lower-limb amputation, and between people with different levels and causes of amputation, and (2) the association between ECw and walking speed.

Short-latency inhibition mitigates the relationship between conscious movement processing and overly cautious gait.

Background: Overly cautious gait is common in older adults. This is characterised by excessively slow gait, shortened steps, broadened base of support and increased double limb support. The current study sought to (1) evaluate if overly cautious gait is associated with attempts to consciously process walking movements, and (2) explore whether an individual's ability to rapidly inhibit a dominant motor response serves to mitigate this relationship.

Consciously processing balance leads to distorted perceptions of instability in older adults.

Background: Persistent dizziness without a clear cause is common in older adults. We explored whether an anxiety-driven preoccupation with consciously processing balance may underpin the distorted perceptions of unsteadiness that characterises 'unexplained' dizziness in older adults.

Methods: We experimentally induced anxiety about losing one's balance (through a postural threat manipulation) in a cohort of asymptomatic older adults and evaluated associated changes in perceived stability, conscious movement processing and postural control.

Conscious Movement Processing, Fall-Related Anxiety, and the Visuomotor Control of Locomotion in Older Adults.

Objectives: Older adults anxious about falling will often consciously process walking movements in an attempt to avoid falling. They also fixate their gaze on the present step rather than looking ahead to plan future actions. The present work examined whether conscious movement strategies result in such restricted visual planning.

Visuomotor control of walking in Parkinson's disease: Exploring possible links between conscious movement processing and freezing of gait.

Introduction: Changes in visual attention have been argued to influence freezing of gait (FOG) in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD). However, the specific visual search patterns of people with FOG pathology (PD + FOG) and potential underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The current study explored visual search behavior in PD + FOG while walking on a pathway featuring environmental features known to exacerbate FOG (e.

Validation of the stabilometer balance test: Bridging the gap between clinical and research based balance control assessments for stroke patients.

Background: A pronounced discrepancy exists between balance assessments for stroke survivors that are used for clinical purposes and those used for research. Clinical assessments like the Berg Balance Scale generally have stronger ecological validity, whereas research-based assessments like posturography are generally more reliable and precise. We developed a stabilometer balance test (SBT) that aims to couple measurement reliability and precision to clinical meaningfulness by means of a personalized and adaptive test procedure.

Does implicit motor learning lead to greater automatization of motor skills compared to explicit motor learning? A systematic review.

Background: Implicit motor learning is considered to be particularly effective for learning sports-related motor skills. It should foster movement automaticity and thereby facilitate performance in multitasking and high-pressure environments. To scrutinize this hypothesis, we systematically reviewed all studies that compared the degree of automatization achieved (as indicated by dual-task performance) after implicit compared to explicit interventions for sports-related motor tasks.