Abstract
BackgroundStudying the responses in human behaviour to external perturbations during daily motor tasks is of key importance for understanding mechanisms of balance control and for investigating the functional response of targeted subjects. Experimental platforms as far developed entail a low number of perturbations and, only in few cases, have been designed to measure variables used at run time to trigger events during a certain motor task.MethodsThis work introduces a new mechatronic device, named SENLY, that provides balance perturbations while subjects carry out daily motor tasks (e.g., walking, upright stance). SENLY mainly consists of two independently-controlled treadmills that destabilize balance by suddenly perturbing belts movements in the horizontal plane. It is also provided with force sensors, which can be used at run time to estimate the ground reaction forces and identify events along the gait cycle in order to trigger the platform perturbation. The paper also describes the customized procedures adopted to calibrate the platform and the first testing trials aimed at evaluating its performance.ResultsSENLY allows to measure both vertical ground reaction forces and their related location more precisely and more accurately than other platforms of the same size. Moreover, the platform kinematic and kinetic performance meets all required specifications, with a negligible influence of the instrumental noise.ConclusionA new perturbing platform able to reproduce different slipping paradigms while measuring GRFs at run time in order to enable the asynchronous triggering during the gait cycle was designed and developed. Calibration procedures and pilot tests show that SENLY allows to suitably estimate dynamical features of the load and to standardize experimental sessions, improving the efficacy of functional analysis.
Highlights
Studying the responses in human behaviour to external perturbations during daily motor tasks is of key importance for understanding mechanisms of balance control and for investigating the functional response of targeted subjects
A wide range of devices that simulate different kinds of falls have been developed to investigate human behavior during the perturbation of balance control. These devices can be classified into three main groups: i. platforms aimed at perturbing the quiet upright stance by means of tilts, translations and rotations of the support base; ii. treadmills that destabilize subjects while walking; iii. complex systems generating unexpected perturbations due to slipping surfaces or suddenly appearing obstacles, which occur while subjects are carrying out daily motor tasks such as walking or sit-to-stand
The analysis of postural perturbations while subjects keep an upright stance has been developed to understand the effects of age-related impairments and training on the balance control system [3,4], to study compensatory arm responses to externally applied postural destabilization [5], and to provide clinical assessments or therapeutic training for subjects affected by lack of balance control [6]
Summary
Studying the responses in human behaviour to external perturbations during daily motor tasks is of key importance for understanding mechanisms of balance control and for investigating the functional response of targeted subjects. A wide range of devices that simulate different kinds of falls have been developed to investigate human behavior during the perturbation of balance control. These devices can be classified into three main groups: i. The analysis of postural perturbations while subjects keep an upright stance has been developed to understand the effects of age-related impairments and training on the balance control system [3,4], to study compensatory arm responses to externally applied postural destabilization [5], and to provide clinical assessments or therapeutic training for subjects affected by lack of balance control [6]. Concerning unperturbed motor tasks, previous studies provide insights concerning how to accurately detect features related to the interaction between feet and instrumented treadmill [14,15]
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