Use of a cane for recovery from backward balance loss during treadmill walking.

Purpose: To study whether a cane improved balance recovery after perturbation during walking.

Method: This study was a crossover comparison comparing the effect of walking with and without a cane for balance recovery after perturbation during treadmill walking. Five normal young volunteers participated.

Age-related differences in cognitive function for interlimb coordination during split-belt walking: a pilot study.

While walking is considered a task demanding cognitive functions rather than an automatic motor task, it is still unclear whether cognitive tasks influence interlimb coordination during walking. The present study revealed that the elderly require cognitive function to control temporal interlimb coordination under difficult walking conditions. Risk of falls is thus likely to be increased in the elderly when performing attention-demanding tasks while walking.

Anticipatory postural adjustments contribute to age-related changes in compensatory steps associated with unilateral perturbations.

Compensatory steps are essential for preventing falls following perturbations. This study aimed to explore age-related changes in compensatory steps to unilateral perturbations, specifically in terms of whether anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) play a role in stabilizing lateral balance. Five young and five elderly male adults participated.

The origin of the premotor potential recorded from the second lumbrical muscle in normal man.

Objective: When recording with a palm electrode, a premotor potential precedes the compound muscle action potential (CMAP), evoked from the second lumbrical (2L) muscle following median nerve stimulation. The purpose of this study was to determine the origin of the premotor potential from the 2L.

Methods: We recorded potentials with multi-channel electrodes in the palm and finger in a bipolar or referential manner, stimulating the second digit or median nerve at the wrist.

Effect of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with physical therapy on L-dopa-induced painful off-period dystonia in Parkinson's disease.

Previous research has shown that low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the primary motor area and supplementary motor area can reduce L-dopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease; however, it involved only patients with peak-dose or diphasic dyskinesia. We report a case of a patient with severely painful off-period dystonia in the unilateral lower limb who underwent 0.9-Hz subthreshold repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over contralateral primary motor area and supplementary motor area.