소뇌성 운동실조증 환자의 자발적 및 보상적 스텝 특성 규명 : Ⅰ. 발 동작의 운동학적 특성을 중심으로

Abstract

Taking a step is a fundamental human movement to maintain balance and execute functional activities in daily living, while such movement is challenging to properly perform in patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA). We examined the kinematic characteristics of foot movement and ranges of body mass center (COM) by comparing voluntary and reactive stepping actions in patients with CA. A total of 12 individuals with CA and 12 age-matched normal controls participated in the study. We used a forward “lean-and-release” balance perturbation method to evaluate the balance recovery responses using foot step. We had 2 step task conditions (2% of body weight for voluntary step and 10% of body weight for reactive step tasks) and 3 step distance conditions (near, middle, and far). The results indicated that reaction time was not much different between groups, but cerebellar patients were slower and took longer to recover their body stability using foot step than normal controls. The movement range of the body COM was significantly larger than that of the normal controls during recovering their balance. These findings suggest that CA patients exhibited a tendency to use inefficient first step movement strategies and more variable to maintain body stability after balance perturbation.