Wii Balance Board Research Articles

Effects of the Dominant or Non-dominant Eye Blocking on Balance and Gait in Healthy Individuals

Vision is an essential element for maintaining the balance in the standing position or for walking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dominant or non-dominant eye blocking on gait and balance. In 17 healthy individuals, static balance and gait function were measured when the dominant or non-dominant eye were blocked. Static balance was measured by the Wii balance board and the Balancia software program. We also measured gait function (spatio-temporal variables) and foot lateral deviations. In the present results, the path length, path velocity, and path area were significantly decreased during blocking dominant on static balance function (p<0.05). There were no significant differences on all gait parameters except velocity during blocking the non-dominant or dominant eye. We could confirm that the use of monocular with non-dominant eye can help improve static balance ability, but it is meaningless except for velocity during gait with monocular.

‘Believe the positive’ aggregation of fall risk assessment methods reduces the detection of risk of falling in older adults

ObjectivesScreening programs for fall prevention in older adults may include several assessment methods. This study investigated the validity of aggregating fall risk assessment methods for stratifying the risk of falling in older adults. MethodsThis secondary data analysis included 52 community-dwelling residents aged [median (interquartile range)] 74 (69–80) years. Fall occurrences were registered prospectively for six months, with 9 (17%) participants reporting at least one fall during follow-up. The fall risk assessment included the Berg Balance Scale (BBS); polypharmacy (POLY); Falls Risk Assessment Score (FRAS); Fall Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT-up); Falls Efficacy Scale (FES); and posturography with the Wii Balance Board (WBB). Aggregation of methods’ results was performed according to the risk classification (‘high risk’ or ‘low risk’) assigned by their respective cut-off values under the ‘believe the positive’ (BP) strategy. ResultsAggregating 1 (POLY), 2 (+BBS), 3 (+FES), 4 (+FRAT-up), 5 (+FRAS), and 6 (+BBS) methods resulted in a monotonic decrease of several validity indices including (index [95% confidence interval]) diagnostic odds ratio (10.82 [2.38—54.28] to 0.59 [0.12—2.09]) and accuracy (0.67 [0.54—0.78] to 0.20 [0.11—0.31]). ConclusionsAggregating fall risk assessment methods—BBS, POLY, FRAS, FRAT-up, FES, WBB—under the BP strategy does not increase the validity of stratification of the risk of falling in older adults.

Is the Wii balance board a valid and reliable instrument to assess postural stability in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus?

AimsEvaluate the validity and reliability of the data from the Wii balance board (WBB), against a force platform (FP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). MethodsForty-three adults with T2DM (age 62.1 ± 12.1 yrs) in the validity trial and 27 (age 63.5 ± 10.8 yrs) in the reliability study, were tested. Total COP area (mm) and range of antero-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) COP excursion were collected simultaneously on a FP and a WBB. ResultsMean CoP sway path values were similar in all conditions in the FP when compared with the WBB. Regression model shows that WBB is able to explain most of the variation in CoP sway path data of the FP (between 42 and 72%) for all testing conditions, indicating that the WBB has good concurrent validity. Test–retest reliability for WBB was excellent, except for the COP sway area in the ‘eyes open’ condition (ICC = 0.55). Both conditions showed modest to excellent reliability in the AP (0.73–0.90) and the ML (0.77–0.91) directions. ConclusionThe WBB has been shown to be a valid and reliable method to quantify the COP displacement during different balance tests in older adults with T2DM.

A Multidimensional Data Acquisition as a Preliminary Step to the Secondary Prevention of the Loss of Autonomy for Patients with Traumatic Injury and Stroke: An AMISIA Pilot Study

BackgroundThe aim of our study was to conduct an ad hoc data collection in healthy adults with the intention of extracting individual profiles to study the ability to effectively monitor one's health by extracting relevant indicators. As “each patient is a unique case”, AMISIA (Defi CNRS AUTON project) proposes an integrated approach, combining medical health devices, information technology, and human factors to provide patients, health care actors and family caregivers with both the best incentives and a high degree of monitoring. MethodWe conducted a data collection experiment in Limoges with 61 participants at the Limoges University. Data were biographic elements, socio-economic profiles, cognitive performance (Corsi test results), a psychological battery (anxiety, fatigue, sleep), posture and gait measurement with 4 Imus and a Wii-balance board, and finally physical activity during a week at home (Armband sensors). ResultsFor the Corsi virtual walking test, the median memory span for Group A was significantly less (p<0.001) than for Group B. Step count and active energy expenditure were significantly higher in Group B (p<0.05). A multiple regression analysis showed that gender, active energy expenditure, fatigue and tendency to play video games account for 41% of the memory span variance. ConclusionWe have shown that encouraging physical activity can be based on the knowledge of many parameters, such as weight, age, gender and other bio-psycho-social parameters that must also be included in the model.

Assessment Of Neurologic Function In Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Following A Single Competition

Head strikes are legal and commonly used in mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions, putting MMA fighters at substantial risk for brain injury. Following a knockout (KO) or technical KO (TKO), fighters typically receive time-based medical suspensions that do not include objective determinations for safe return-to-play. Fighters who do not suffer a KO or TKO may not receive any medical suspensions, even though they may have incurred an undiagnosed concussion or subconcussive brain injury. PURPOSE: To determine if participating in a single MMA competition is associated with impaired neurologic function of MMA fighters. METHODS: Neurologic function of ten amateur and professional MMA fighters (9 men, 1 women; 26.1 ± 2.6 yr) was assessed before (61 ± 91.8 days; T1) and after (3.8 ± 1.3 days; T2) competition. Control participants (9 men, 1 women; 27.1 ± 2.7 yr) were assessed on two separate occasions, 38 ± 15.2 days apart (T1, T2). All participants were evaluated for static balance (Wii Balance Board; SB), dynamic balance (Y Balance Test; DB), eye movement speed and accuracy (King-Devick test; KD), near point of convergence (Vestibular / Ocular-Motor Screening; NC), hand-eye reaction time (FITLIGHT Trainer; RT), visuomotor ability (FITLIGHT Trainer, VM), and multiple object tracking speed (NeuroTracker, MOT). RESULTS: Two MMA participants lost their competition by KO/TKO (one due to strikes). DB, KD and NC improved significantly in control subjects relative to MMA fighters (β = -0.019, P = 0.005; β = 2.874, P = 0.039; and β = 5.662, P = 0.002, respectively). However, SB, RT and VM improved significantly in MMA fighters relative to control subjects (β = -1.042, P < 0.001; β = -0.017, P = 0.037; β = -0.062, P = 0.015, respectively). Changes in MOT between T1 and T2 were not significantly different between groups (β = 0.257, P = 0.285). CONCLUSION: MMA fighters had deficits in some assessments of neurologic function a few days after competition, yet they seemed to improve in other aspects. Measures of dynamic balance and eye function were impaired relative to control subjects, whereas static balance and reactive movement skills were improved in MMA fighters. Overall, it appears that some aspects of neurologic function may be more susceptible to impairment following MMA competition, though general abnormalities were not present.

Assessment Of Neurological Function In Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Following A Single Training Session

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a combat sport that utilizes a variety of striking, grappling, and submission techniques in training and competition. Consequently, MMA fighters routinely incur head impacts that may put them at risk for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and/or neurodegenerative brain disease later in life. Fighters compete rather infrequently, though often train year-round; thus, cumulative exposure to injury is higher during training than competition. However, the neurologic effects of MMA training sessions are unknown. PURPOSE: To determine if a single MMA training session is associated with impaired neurologic function of MMA fighters. METHODS: Ten amateur and professional MMA fighters (8 men, 2 women; 26.3 ± 2.6 yr) were evaluated at baseline and immediately following an MMA training session (post-training), using several objective assessments of neurologic function. Participants were evaluated for eye movement speed and accuracy (King-Devick test; KD); VOMS, near point convergence (Vestibular / Ocular-Motor Screening; NC), hand-eye reaction time (FitLight Trainer; RT), visuomotor ability (FitLight Trainer; VM), static balance (Wii Balance Board; SB), and multiple object tracking speed (NeuroTracker; MOT). RESULTS: Total KD times were significantly faster following a training session (35.86 ± 8.05 vs. 43.34 ± 8.92 s; P < 0.001). Likewise, RT (0.43 ± 0.04 vs. 0.48 ± 0.04 s; P = 0.003) and VM (1.06 ± 0.22 vs. 1.20 ± 0.25 s; P = 0.011) times improved significantly following training. MOT speed (2.15 ± 0.26 vs. 2.03 ± 0.34 m·s-1; P = 0.442) and NC distance (5.18 ± 5.12 vs. 6.62 ± 5.85 cm; P = 0.284) also improved following training, although these changes were not significant. SB was virtually identical from baseline to post-training (2.27 ± 0.95 vs. 2.27±1.30 cm2; P = 0.994). CONCLUSION: Compared to baseline measures, some assessments of neurologic function revealed significant changes after a single MMA training session. Contrary to what was expected, all significant changes were the result of improved performance from baseline to post-training. Based on these findings, neurologic function of MMA fighters does not appear to be impaired following a single training session. Furthermore, MMA training bouts may be associated with acute improvements in eye movement, reaction time and visuomotor ability.

Personalized Balance and Fall Risk Visualization with Kinect Two.

When we face a super-aging society, there is a drastically increased need for efficient systems in terms of time and cost that can improve rehabilitation standards for the elderly people and other motor-impaired subjects. Human balance ability depends largely on the control of the full body center of mass (CoM), fall risks can be evaluated by estimating the subject-specific CoM displacement over the support polygon relating to the foot tracking. The CoM position is often estimated using what are known as anthropometric tables in biomechanics field. However, the parameters have been obtained from a standard population and will differ between subjects. Current existing fall risk assessment usually relies on the generic anthropometric table or need the center of pressure (CoP) recordings which are to be evaluated for the risk of fall. CoP measurements require force platform, wii board or specialized shoes, which limits the practical usage in the daily life environment. This work represents a personalized measure of balance that considers subject-specific body mass variations along with the motion tracking by Kinect Two. Based on our previous developments, we firstly verified the system with Kinect Two recording, and with adaptive support polygon extraction process, it realizes a real-time system for evaluating the personalized balance and fall risk visualization for unknown disturbance without needing force platform.

Effects of 4 Weeks of Active Exergames Training on Muscular Fitness in Elderly Women.

Gallardo-Meza, C, Simon, K, Bustamante-Ara, N, Ramirez-Campillo, R, García-Pinillos, F, Keogh, JWL, and Izquierdo, M. Effects of 4 weeks of active exergames training on muscular fitness in elderly women. J Strength Cond Res 36(2): 427-432, 2022-To analyze the effects of 4 weeks of an active exergames training program on muscular fitness in older women, 2 groups of community dwelling physically active subjects were formed by block-design randomization. One was deemed the control group (CG, n = 37; age 68.1 ± 3.3 years), and a second group completed 4 weeks of an active exergames training program (ExG, n = 35; age, 69.2 ± 3.7 years). Training included active exergames (Wii Fit Plus) performed on the Wii Balanceboard, 2 sessions per week. The exergames required mainly balance-related movements, such as leaning forward, leftward, and rightward, also requiring isometric squat positions and explosive leg extension. A supervisor-to-subject ratio method of 2:1 was used. An intensity-based individual progressive overload was applied. There were no significant (all p > 0.05, d = 0.01-0.07) baseline differences between-groups for all dependent variables. For the ExG, significant improvements were observed in static balance right leg test (Δ75.5%, d = 0.89), static balance left leg (Δ33.7%, d = 0.57), timed up-and-go test (Δ14.8%, d = 0.85) and sit-to-stand velocity test (Δ83.8%, d = 1.62). For the control group, trivial to small decrements in performance were observed across all tests (Δ -2.1 to -8.4%, d = -0.08 to 0.32). Group × time interactions were observed for the static balance right and left leg, timed up-and-go test, and the mean velocity achieved in the 5-repetition sit-to-stand test (all p < 0.001; d = 0.33-0.60). In conclusion, exergames training improves muscular fitness in older women. These results should be considered when designing appropriate and better exercise training programs for older women.

Relationship between Nintendo’s Wii balance board derived variables and clinical balance scores in individuals with stroke

BackgroundThe Wii Balance Board (WBB) is widely studied as a balance testing platform and is reliable in detecting changes in the body’s center of pressure (COP). However, the relationship between WBB derived measures and clinical tests of balance is currently unknown. Research questionTo investigate the association between static and dynamic COP measures from the WBB with balance tests commonly used in chronic stroke. MethodsThis retrospective study included sixty-nine individuals with stroke who performed the Berg Balance Score (BBS), the Mini-BESTest and WBB assessments as a part of their baseline measurements. The WBB assessments included body weight symmetry and a dynamic target matching task that measured Reaction Time (RT) and Completion Time (CT). ResultsBody weight symmetry performed with eyes open was significantly different between participants who were classified as high and moderate balance using the Mini-BESTest (p = 0.03). A significant negative linear correlation was observed between the BBS and CT (rho = -0.29, p = 0.021) and between the Mini-BESTest and RT (rho=-0.246, p = 0.05). SignificanceWe provide preliminary but weak evidence supporting the relationship between WBB derived variables in relevance to the BBS and Mini-BESTest. Further research is needed to fully understand the clinical utility of the WBB especially in a larger sample and to generalize these results to stroke survivors at all levels of ability.

Relationship between postural stability and fall risk in elderly people with lumbar spondylosis during local vibratory stimulation for proprioception: a retrospective study

Purpose: Reduced proprioception affects fall risks in elderly people with lumbar spondylosis. The decrease in proprioception in the trunk or lower legs may contribute to a decline in postural stability. We aimed to investigate the association between proprioceptive postural stability and fall risks in elderly individuals with lumbar spondylosis.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, the centre-of-pressure displacement was determined in elderly individuals with lumbar spondylosis during upright stance while standing on a Wii Balance Board with their eyes closed (fall-risk group, n = 55; non-fall-risk group, n = 60). Vibratory stimulations at 30 Hz were applied to the lumbar multifidus and gastrocnemius to evaluate the relative contributions of proprioceptive signals used in postural control (relative proprioceptive weighting ratio).Results: Compared with the non-fall-risk group, the fall-risk group displayed a high relative proprioceptive weighting ratio (p = 0.024). Relative proprioceptive weighting ratio (odds ratio, 1.1; 95% confidence interval: 1.004–1.109) was independently associated with fall risks after adjusting for confounding factors. Among variables related to fall risk, the relative proprioceptive weighting ratio was a significant factor (p < 0.035).Conclusion: The fall-risk group of elderly individuals with lumbar spondylosis was dependent on the ankle strategy. The fall risk in elderly people with lumbar spondylosis could be due to over-dependence on the input from muscle spindles in the gastrocnemius.

Influence of exercise on cognitive processing of older woman during dual-task balance: sixteen case reports

BACKGROUND: Older adults require special attention during cognitive-motor tasks since automatic postural control is reduced.&#x0D; AIM: To analyze the effect of physical exercise on dual-task processing of healthy older women performing standing balance.&#x0D; METHOD: Sixteen healthy older women were assessed in a quiet standing position with eyes open/closed (single-task, EO, and EC) and with a cognitive task (dual-task, DT) using a Wii Balance Board. All individuals performed training (aerobic, strength, and virtual reality exercises) at moderate effort. Center of pressure (CoP) anteroposterior and mediolateral displacement were analyzed over time pre- and post-training. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare pre- and post-training.&#x0D; RESULTS: Greater variability in CoP was observed pre- compared to post-training. In the DT, there was a significance decrease in post-training variability compared to pre-training (p&lt;0.01).&#x0D; CONCLUSION: Physical exercise programs for older adults may contribute to simultaneously improving motor-cognitive performances, associated with improvement in the divided attention.

Training With Wii Balance Board for Dynamic Balance in Older Adults

Background and Purpose: Age-related muscle strength deterioration and decreased ability to react appropriately and regain balance after unexpected sudden disturbances and deficit they have in the use of responsible mechanisms to control the dynamic stability in response to a disturbance are important intrinsic risk factors for the fall. The main objective of this study is to verify the impact on the dynamic balance, through the Limits of Stability test, of a physical exercise program in older adults using the Nintendo Wii console. Methods: The sample consisted of a total of 12 patients. Pre and posttreatment measurements and assessments were carried out at the Laboratory of Motion Analysis, Biomechanics, Ergonomics and Motor Control (LAMBECOM) in the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Rey Juan Carlos University. Results and Conclusions: The results of this study show improvements in the scores of all the variables analyzed by Limits of Stability: RT, MVL, EPE, MXE and DCL. The results obtained seem to determine that the protocol used through training with the Nintendo Wii and its Wii Fit video game produced clinical improvements in postural control and dynamic balance and a positive impact on quality of life.

Effect of Wii Balance Board and motor imagery on balance and muscle strength in football players (P. 185)

Effect of Wii Balance Board and motor imagery on balance and muscle strength in football players (P. 185)

Adversarial autoencoder for visualization and classification of human activity: Application to a low-cost commercial force plate

The ability to visualize and interpret high dimensional time-series data will be critical as wearable and other sensors are adopted in rehabilitation protocols. This study proposes a latent space representation of high dimensional time-series data for data visualization. For that purpose, a deep learning model called Adversarial AutoEncoder (AAE) is proposed to perform efficient data dimensionality reduction by considering unsupervised and semi-supervised adversarial training.Eighteen subjects were recruited for the experiment and performed two sets of exercises (upper and lower body) on the Wii Balance Board. Then, the accuracy of the latent space representation is evaluated on both sets of exercises separately. Data dimensionality reduction with conventional Machine Learning (ML) and supervised Deep Learning (DL) classification are also performed to compare the efficiency of AAE approaches.The results showed that AAE can outperform conventional ML approaches while providing close results to DL supervised classification.AAE approaches for data visualization are a promising approach to monitor the subject’s movements and detect adverse events or similarity with previous data, providing an intuitive way to monitor the patient’s progress and provide potential information for rehabilitation tracking.

Contributions of pain intensity, body mass index and balance to physical function in individuals with bilateral knee osteoarthritis

Purpose To explore the contributions of pain, body mass index (BMI) and balance to physical function in individuals with bilateral knee osteoarthritis (OA). Materials and methods The cross-sectional study involved 43 individuals (32 females, 11 males) with radiograph-confirmed bilateral knee OA. Participants’ height, weight, pain intensity and balance were assessed using height metre, weighing scale, numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) and Wii balance board, respectively, while physical function was assessed using both timed up-and-go (TUG) and stair climbing tests. Data were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation and stepwise linear regression at 0.05 alpha level. Results Physical function had significant direct correlations with pain intensity (r = 0.42, p = 0.005), BMI (r = 0.36, p = 0.016), and eyes-closed balance performance (r = 0.33, p = 0.033). Pain intensity, BMI and eyes-closed balance performance jointly accounted for 42.0% (R 2 = 0.42, p = 0.011) of the variance in physical function; their relative contributions being 18.0% (R 2 = 0.18, p = 0.005), 13.0% (R 2 = 0.13, p = 0.021) and 11.0% (R 2 = 0.11, p = 0.032), respectively. Conclusion Pain, BMI and eyes-closed balance are significant predictors of physical function in individuals with bilateral knee OA. Findings suggest that reducing pain and weight may improve balance and positively impact physical function in patients with bilateral knee OA and be useful in clinical practice.

Comparison of a portable balance board for measures of persistence in postural sway

Measuring postural sway is important for determining functional ability or risk of falling. Gathering postural sway measures outside of controlled environments is desirable for reaching populations with limited mobility. Previous studies have confirmed the accuracy of the magnitude of postural sway using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board (WBB). However, it is unclear if the WBB can accurately measure persistence of postural sway, i.e., the pattern of center-of-pressure fluctuations over time. The purpose of this study was to compare measures of persistence of postural sway (through detrended fluctuation analysis) using WBB and a force platform (FP). Seventeen healthy individuals performed three standing conditions: eyes open, eyes closed, and one-leg standing. The WBB (30 Hz) was placed on top on the FP (600 Hz) to collect data simultaneously, then the FP data were downsampled to 100 Hz and 30 Hz. The agreement between WBB and FP for measures of postural sway were influenced by the sampling rate and postural sway direction. Intraclass correlation coefficient was excellent (range: 0.953–0.998) for long-term scaling regions in the anterior-posterior direction, but lower (range: 0.352–0.877) and inconsistent for medial-lateral direction and short-term scaling regions. The three comparison groups (WBB at 30 Hz, FP at 30 Hz, and FP at 100 Hz) showed dissimilar abilities in detecting differences in persistence of postural sway. In summary, the WBB is accurate for quantifying persistence of postural sway measurements in long-term scaling regions in the AP direction, but has limitations for short-term scaling regions and the ML direction.

Intensified visual clutter induces increased sympathetic signalling, poorer postural control, and faster torsional eye movements during visual rotation

Many dizzy patients express a hypersensitivity to visual motion and clutter. This study aims to investigate how exposure to rotating visual clutter affects ocular torsion, vertical skewing, body-sway, the autonomic pupillary response, and the subjective feeling of discomfort to the stimulation. Sixteen healthy subjects were exposed to 20 seconds rotational visual stimulation (72 deg/s; 50 deg visual field). Visual stimuli were comprised of black lines on a white background, presented at low and high intensity levels of visual clutter, holding 19 lines and 38 lines respectively. Ocular torsion and vertical skewing were recorded using the Chronos Eye Tracker, which also measured pupil size as a reflection of the autonomic response. Postural control was evaluated by measuring body-sway area on the Wii Balance Board. Values were compared to data retrieved 20 seconds before and after the optokinetic stimulation, as subjects viewed the stationary visual scene. The high intensity stimulus resulted in significantly higher torsional velocities. Subjects who were exposed to low intensity first exhibited higher velocities for both intensities. Both pupil size and body sway increased for the higher intensity to both the moving and stationary visual scene, and were positively correlated to torsional velocity. In conclusion, exposure to visual clutter was reflected in the eye movement response, changes in postural control, and the autonomic response. This response may hold clinical utility when assessing patients suffering from visual motion hypersensitivity, while also providing some context as to why some healthy people feel discomfort in visually cluttered surroundings.

Using Sensors and Deep Learning to Enable On-Demand Balance Evaluation for Effective Physical Therapy

In traditional physical therapy, balance evaluation is performed by the physical therapist (PT) intermittently during clinic visits, which is subjective, inconvenient, and time-consuming. In this paper, we use sensors and deep learning to propose an automated balance evaluation system for home and clinical use. First, we propose a deep learning-based model to estimate the subject's Center of Mass (CoM) position using a depth camera, which outperforms other CoM estimation methods with high accuracy and ease of use. Then we propose a balance evaluation system to evaluate the subject's dynamic balance in a Gait Initiation (GI) task. The subject's CoM position is estimated by the proposed CoM estimation model and the Center of Pressure (CoP) position is measured by a Wii balance board. The CoP-CoM trajectory during the GI task is used to assess and quantify the patient's dynamic balance control. Using data collected from both healthy subjects and patients with Parkinson's Disease, the proposed balance evaluation model is able to quantify the subject's balance level which is consistent with the human PT's assessments in traditional balance evaluation tests. The proposed balance evaluation system can be used as a portable and low-cost tool for on-demand balance evaluation.

Balance Evaluation after Reconstruction of Medial Patellar Luxation in Small-Sized Dogs with Wii Balance Board

Balance Evaluation after Reconstruction of Medial Patellar Luxation in Small-Sized Dogs with Wii Balance Board

Validity of the Wii Balance Board for Evaluation of Medial Patellar Luxation in Small Sized Dog

Validity of the Wii Balance Board for Evaluation of Medial Patellar Luxation in Small Sized Dog