Can falls be predicted with gait analytical and posturographic measurement systems? A prospective follow-up study in a nursing home population.

Objective: To validate previously proposed findings and to develop an objective, feasible and efficient bifactorial (risk factors: gait impairment and balance disorders) fall risk assessment.

Design: Prospective follow-up study Setting: Nursing homes (Halle/Saale, Germany).

Subjects: One hundred and forty-six nursing home residents (aged 62-101 years) were recruited.

Inertial sensor based reference gait data for healthy subjects.

Inertial sensor gait analysis systems (ISGAS) facilitate gait analysis in an unobstructed environment outdoors or outside of a conventional gait laboratory. However, their use in clinical settings and in large scale studies necessitates thorough evaluation of their performance in different settings and populations and reference data on healthy subjects. The purposes of this study were to obtain spatio-temporal gait parameters using a large cohort of subjects of all ages and to identify relationships between gait parameters and subject characteristics.

[Reliability of the novel gait analysis system RehaWatch].

Quantitative gait analysis plays an important role in neurological and orthopedic rehabilitation regarding the evaluation of rehabilitation progress. However, most of the currently available gait analysis systems share the disadvantage of being expensive, time-consuming, and complex. A promising alternative is the portable gait analysis system RehaWatch.

Inhibition of the anterior intraparietal area and the dorsal premotor cortex interfere with arbitrary visuo-motor mapping.

Objective: The contribution of the human anterior intraparietal area and the dorsal premotor cortex to arbitrary visuo-motor mapping during grasping were tested.

Methods: Trained right-handed subjects reached for and pincer-grasped a cube with the right hand in the absence of visual feedback after the cube location had been displayed for 200ms. During the reaching movements, the colour of the cube changed and visual feedback about the change of colour was provided for 100ms at 500ms after movement onset (at the time of peak grasp aperture).

[A novel posturographic method to differentiate sway patterns of patients with Parkinson's disease from patients with cerebellar ataxia].

Nigrostriatal and cerebellar systems are important postural subsystems in neurologic rehabilitation. In this study, we investigated the ability to differentiate both systems via posturography and spectral analysis. This cross-sectional study included 156 study subjects with 52 individuals in each group (healthy controls, Parkinson's disease and cerebellar disease patients).