Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention

A step beyond: age and sex-dependent changes in multidimensional locomotor and gait patterns of voluntary motion of C57BL/6 mice

This study uses automated movement analysis to show age and sex differences in gait and posture in mice, revealing changes not captured by traditional activity metrics.

The influence of virtual visual stimulus amplitude to induce standing postural responses

This study examines how varying virtual visual stimulus amplitudes affect standing postural responses in VR, finding that higher amplitudes increase oscillation and decrease gain, suggesting nonlinear control.

Does Balance Vary Across the Menstrual Cycle?: A Meta-Analysis with Implications for Women's Health.

This meta-analysis examines the effect of menstrual cycle phases on balance in women, finding no significant overall effect on static or dynamic balance.

Balance control is more affected in older than younger adults by repeated visual perturbations during walking

This study examines age-related differences in balance control during walking under visual perturbations, finding older adults show reduced self-motion estimation accuracy but some adaptation capacity.

Different stabilizing mechanisms but a common task-level aim in standing and walking

The paper compares stabilization mechanisms in standing and walking using a lumped model, finding task-level organization of stabilization with consistent position-velocity gain ratios.

Impaired value estimation over space explains turn-induced freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: A cortico-basal ganglia-inspired reinforcement learning model

Effects of one night of sleep deprivation on single- and dual-task gait

This study compares the effects of sleep deprivation and dual-task walking on gait parameters, finding distinct impacts on movement stability and variability.

Environmental Demands Outweigh Age Effects in Cortical Dynamics During Walking

This study examines how environmental factors like lighting and obstacle presence affect cortical dynamics during walking, finding they have a stronger impact than age or expectation.

StaBLE: digital metrics capture balance performance across a wide spectrum of balance tasks and abilities

The paper introduces StaBLE, a digital balance assessment tool validated against clinical scales, showing strong correlations and improved detection of fall risk.

Older adults do not have a higher metabolic cost than younger adults in outdoor overground walking.

Across seven pace-controlled outdoor overground speeds, healthy older adults (n=11) showed no higher gross or net walking cost than younger adults (n=16), trending lower instead.

Misalignment between perceived and actual ability on a balance beam walking task

This study examines how individuals' self-perceived balance ability aligns with actual performance on a balance beam task, finding that task-specific practice improves self-estimation accuracy.

From Stability to Complexity: A Systematic Review of Long-term Divergence Exponents in Nonlinear Gait Analysis

This paper reinterprets long-term divergence exponents in gait analysis as a measure of complexity and automaticity rather than stability, supported by meta-analysis and experimental evidence.

Higher cortical beta oscillatory power before balance perturbations is associated with worse balance in older adults with Parkinson's Disease, but not in age-matched older adults

Beyond gait speed: a multidimensional motor signature of Motoric Cognitive Risk syndrome identified through domain-specific anomaly detection

This paper identifies a multidimensional motor signature of Motoric Cognitive Risk syndrome using domain-specific anomaly detection in gait data from older adults.

Energy Expenditure During Walking With a Novel Treadmill Controller That Induces Gait Asymmetry

This study examines energy expenditure during dynamic treadmill walking, finding higher metabolic power than normal walking at the task's mean speed but not correlated with gait asymmetry.

Association between chronotype and dual-task gait cost across distinct cognitive domains in healthy young adults

This study examines how chronotype affects dual-task gait cost across different cognitive domains in healthy young adults, finding task-specific associations.

Re-examining the lower speed boundary of preferred coordination ratio constancy: estimator dependence and competing breakpoint regions

This paper re-examines the lower speed boundary of preferred coordination ratio constancy using published data, finding competing breakpoint regions rather than a single dominant boundary.

Response-optimised training improves learning of a complex motor task and closely related motor tasks

This study shows that optimising training difficulty based on individual abilities improves motor task performance and related motor skills in older adults.

A Dynamical Digital Twin Unmasks Hidden Neuromotor Control Policies and Catastrophic Tipping Points in Parkinson's Disease

The paper develops a dynamical digital twin framework to uncover hidden neural control policies and catastrophic tipping points in Parkinson's disease by analyzing sway kinematics and Bayesian inference.

Falls Induced by Optogenetic Inhibition of Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Projections after Dorsomedial Striatal Dopamine Depletion in a Dual Disruption Model of Falling Vulnerability in Parkinson Disease

This study shows that combining optogenetic inhibition of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons with striatal dopamine depletion in rats increases fall vulnerability on balance beam tasks.

An open-source application for applying rapid transient perturbations using a split-belt treadmill

This paper describes an open-source method for inducing slip- and trip-like perturbations using a split-belt treadmill, validated for accuracy and stability measurement in individuals with limb loss.

Temporal structure of postural sway reveals altered cortical postural coupling in aging and stroke: insights from nonlinear dynamics and state-space analysis

The paper analyzes brain-body coupling in aging and stroke using nonlinear dynamics and state-space analysis to better understand balance impairment.

Prediction and updating abilities in motor imagery during the Timed Up and Go task in young and older adults

This study compares prediction and updating abilities in motor imagery during the Timed Up and Go task in young and older adults, finding similar or better accuracy in older adults but distinct cognitive and sensorimotor factors influencing each ability.

Can force-plate measurement be trusted for balance diagnostics? Frequency-domain force-plate performance assessment for quiet-standing studies

This study assesses the performance of a portable force plate in measuring shear forces during quiet standing, finding it only marginally meets precision requirements for balance diagnostics.

The energetic cost of human standing balance and gait initiation over a range of natural postures

This study quantifies the energetic cost of standing balance and gait initiation across natural postures, finding that energy expenditure is asymmetric with respect to lean angle and that postural preferences do not strictly minimize energy cost.

Cortico-muscular control of postural balance in older adults - effects of training on functional connectivity

This study examines how balance training in older adults affects cortico-muscular functional connectivity during postural recovery, finding training-induced changes in beta-band coherence with muscle synergies.

Older adults amplify passive gait stability during obstacle crossing without weakening the stabilizing synergy

The paper examines how older adults adjust gait stability during obstacle crossing, finding they amplify passive stability mechanisms without weakening the stabilizing synergy.

Altering sensory cues for spatial navigation does not impose a dual-task effect on gait and balance

This study examines if increased attentional demand during spatial navigation affects gait and balance, finding no dual-task interference in healthy adults.

Functional Stratification Reveals Speed-Independent Gait Impairments Beyond Chronological Age

This study shows that stratifying older adults by functional status using SPPB detects gait impairments beyond chronological age, highlighting gait variability as a biomarker of neuromuscular control decline.

More isn't always better: Too much exoskeleton torque can disrupt balance

This study tests the effect of different exoskeleton torque levels on balance during perturbations, finding that higher torque does not always improve balance and may even hinder it in some individuals.