Feasibility of using the NewGait assistive device for correcting gait deviations in individuals with various neurological disorders: Case study.

Purpose: Impaired gait is one of the earliest, most devastating, and long-lasting symptoms associated with neurological disorders. This study tested the feasibility of wearing the NewGait rehabilitative device in individuals with gait impairments due to the most common neurological disorders.

Methods: Seven participants with gait impairments due to strokes, Multiple Sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies, Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) were included in the study.

Reductions in Kinematics from Brassieres with Varying Breast Support.

Given the abundance of brassieres, manufacturers, and investigations of bras, it remains unclear whether the continued development of bras will provide many additional improvements in support. This study measured performance of sport bras including 4 popular bras and a new style bra at reducing breast motion during five common exercises. Bras demonstrated varying effectiveness and consistency across exercises at reducing undesirable breast motion, (hereafter referred to as kinematics).

New approach for evaluating the effectiveness of whole-body magnetic field therapy in the rehabilitation of patients with lumbar discectomy.

Objective: Magnetic field therapy involves the application of low-intensity magnetic fields (1-3.5 mT) to a patient's whole body. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of whole-body magnetic field (WBMF) therapy in the early rehabilitation of patients after lumbar discectomy.

Decomposition of leg movements during overground walking in individuals with traumatic brain injury.

Objective: Walking requires precise coordination of bilateral lower extremity motions at all joints. This ability can be affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study investigated inter-joint coordination of lower extremities during overground walking after TBI.

Effects of Navigated Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation After Stroke.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the effects of navigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, delivered in different modes, on motor impairments and functional limitations after stroke.

Methods: The study sample included 42 patients (58.5 ± 10.

Decomposition of postural movements in individuals with mild TBI while reaching to intercept a moving virtual target.

The study analyzed postural and arm movement coordinations in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) while standing and reaching for a target moving in a 3D virtual environment. Thirteen individuals with mild TBI and 13 height, sex, and age-matched healthy control individuals were involved. While standing in front of the screen, the participants interacted with the projected environment by reaching for virtual targets.

Enhanced arm swing alters interlimb coordination during overground walking in individuals with traumatic brain injury.

The current study investigated interlimb coordination in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) during overground walking. The study involved 10 participants with coordination, balance, and gait abnormalities post-TBI, as well as 10 sex- and age-matched healthy control individuals. Participants walked 12m under two experimental conditions: 1) at self-selected comfortable walking speeds; and 2) with instructions to increase the amplitude and out-of-phase coordination of arm swinging.

The effect of actual and imaginary handgrip on postural stability during different balance conditions.

The stabilizing effect of holding an object on upright posture has been demonstrated in a variety of settings. The mechanism of this effect is unknown but could be attributed to either additional sensorimotor activity triggered by a hand contact or cognitive efforts related to performance of a supra-postural task. A potential mechanism was investigated by comparing postural stability in young healthy individuals while gripping a custom instrumented wooden stick with a 5N force and while imagining holding the same stick in the hand.

Physical therapy for correcting postural and coordination deficits in patients with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury.

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of a conventional exercise program designed for correcting postural and coordination abnormalities in patients with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using principles of motor learning applied to functional exercise training, exercises were performed while lying, sitting, standing and walking, with the goal of improving intra- and inter-limb coordination in the upper and lower extremities, postural stability and gait pattern. Twenty-two participants with TBI-related deficits received therapy in a supervised outpatient clinic.

Virtual reality game-based therapy for treatment of postural and co-ordination abnormalities secondary to TBI: a pilot study.

Primary Objective: The study objective was to test the efficacy of game-based virtual reality (VR) therapy as a mean of correcting postural and co-ordination abnormalities in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Therapy was done with interactive customized VR games and scenarios, utilizing an Xbox Kinect sensor.

Research Design: The study was a pilot project using the structure of a phase II clinical trial.

Postural perturbations induced by a moving virtual environment are reduced in persons with brain injury when gripping a mobile object.

Background And Purpose: Gripping a mobile (unfixed) object increases standing postural stability in healthy individuals. We tested whether the same strategy is effective for stabilizing upright posture perturbed by a moving environment (virtual perturbation) in participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Fifteen participants with mild-to-moderate postural deficits after TBI and a comparison group of 15 age-matched healthy subjects participated in the study.

Cognitive ability predicts motor learning on a virtual reality game in patients with TBI.

Background: Virtual reality games and simulations have been utilized successfully for motor rehabilitation of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Little is known, however, how TBI-related cognitive decline affects learning of motor tasks in virtual environments.

Objective: To fill this gap, we examined learning within a virtual reality game involving various reaching motions in 14 patients with TBI and 15 healthy individuals with different cognitive abilities.

Does use of a virtual environment change reaching while standing in patients with traumatic brain injury?

Background: Although numerous virtual reality applications have been developed for sensorimotor retraining in neurologically impaired individuals, it is unclear whether the virtual environment (VE) changes motor performance, especially in patients with brain injuries. To address this question, the movement characteristics of forward arm reaches during standing were compared in physical and virtual environments, presented at different viewing angles.

Methods: Fifteen patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and 15 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals performed virtual reaches in a computer-generated courtyard with a flower-topped hedge.

Bilateral coupling facilitates recovery of rhythmical movements from perturbation in healthy and post-stroke subjects.

The paretic arm of subjects with stroke has a decreased ability to quickly adapt to and recover from perturbations during rhythmical arm swinging. We investigated whether bilateral coupling in the synchronous motion of two arms may facilitate the restoration of rhythmical movement of the paretic arm in subjects with chronic hemiparesis due to stroke. While standing, stroke and age-matched healthy (control) subjects swung one or both arms synchronously at ~0.

Challenging stability limits in old and young individuals with a functional reaching task.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which adding a challenge to a reach test would increase the limit of stability (LOS) in young and old individuals.

Design: While standing on a force plate, with infrared markers on bony landmarks for motion analysis, 15 old (mean [SD], 70 [7] yrs old) and 15 young (mean [SD], 24 [2] yrs old) participants completed the modified functional reach test, in which they were asked to touch the farthest target possible in a series. They were then challenged to touch additional targets (functional reach challenge test) until they lost balance.

Postural stabilization by gripping a stick with different force levels.

Hand contact with a stationary surface reduces postural sway in healthy individuals even when the level of force applied is mechanically insufficient. To make this phenomenon more applicable to a real-life situation, where a stationary support is not available, a mobile stick was used to measure and control grip force. The effect of a supra-postural task of stick gripping on stability was tested in 18 healthy individuals during quiet standing, standing in semi-tandem, and with eyes closed.

Gaze and viewing angle influence visual stabilization of upright posture.

Focusing gaze on a target helps stabilize upright posture. We investigated how this visual stabilization can be affected by observing a target presented under different gaze and viewing angles. In a series of 10-second trials, participants (N = 20, 29.

Development of a 3D immersive videogame to improve arm-postural coordination in patients with TBI.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disrupts the central and executive mechanisms of arm(s) and postural (trunk and legs) coordination. To address these issues, we developed a 3D immersive videogame--Octopus. The game was developed using the basic principles of videogame design and previous experience of using videogames for rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injuries.

A pointing task to improve reaching performance in older adults.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether adding a pointing task would influence functional reach test performance in younger and older adults.

Design: While standing on a force plate, 20 older (73 ± 8 yrs) and 20 younger (23 ± 1 yrs) adults were randomly administered a modification of the functional reach test and the functional point test. Functional pointing involved reaching and pointing at the farthest possible target in a series of 1.

Effect of viewing angle on arm reaching while standing in a virtual environment: potential for virtual rehabilitation.

Functional arm movements, such as reaching while standing, are planned and executed according to our perception of body position in space and are relative to environmental objects. The angle under which the environment is observed is one component used in creating this perception. This suggests that manipulation of viewing angle may modulate whole body movement to affect performance.

The effect of additional hand contact on postural stability perturbed by a moving environment.

Additional hand contact of external objects has been shown to reduce postural instability caused by a deficiency of one or more senses. Little is known, however, if additional contact can help in an environment where the senses are available but conflicting. This question was investigated by analyzing the effect of different types of hand contact on postural stability perturbed by the moving visual scene.

Role of cerebellum in learning postural tasks.

For a long time, the cerebellum has been known to be a structure related to posture and equilibrium control. According to the anatomic structure of inputs and internal structure of the cerebellum, its role in learning was theoretically reasoned and experimentally proved. The hypothesis of an inverse internal model based on feedback-error learning mechanism combines feedforward control by the cerebellum and feedback control by the cerebral motor cortex.

Central resetting of neuromuscular steady states may underlie rhythmical arm movements.

Changing the steady-state configuration of the body or its segments may be an important function of central pattern generators for locomotion and other rhythmical movements. Thereby, muscle activation, forces, and movement may emerge following a natural tendency of the neuromuscular system to achieve the current steady-state configuration. To verify that transitions between different steady states occur during rhythmical movements, we asked standing subjects to swing one or both arms synchronously or reciprocally at approximately 0.

Disruption of bilateral temporal coordination during arm swinging in patients with hemiparesis.

Persistent motor deficits in the paretic arm present a major barrier to the recovery of the ability to perform bimanual tasks even in individuals who have recovered well after a stroke. Impaired performance may be related to deficits in bimanual temporal coordination due to stroke-related damage of specific brain motor structures as well as changed biomechanics of the paretic arm. To determine the extent of the deficit in bilateral temporal coordination after the stroke, we investigated how bilateral reciprocal coordination was regained after external perturbations of the arm in individuals with hemiparesis due to stroke.