Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention

Auditory feedback effect of self-pacing treadmill walking in comparison to overground walking

This study compares temporal gait measures between self-pacing treadmill walking with and without auditory feedback and overground walking, finding significant differences between treadmill and overground conditions but no effect of sound.

The size of the functional base of support decreases with age

This study shows that the functional base of support area decreases with age, correlating with physical performance and frailty in older adults.

The Effect of Physical Activity Level on Age-Related Differences in Responses to Optic Flow Perturbation during Human Walking

This study examines how physical activity levels affect age-related differences in responses to optic flow perturbations during walking, finding that higher activity in older adults correlates with stronger sway responses.

Measured and modelled transitions between self-paced walking and synchronization with rhythmic auditory cues

The paper measures how long-range autocorrelations in stride durations change during transitions between self-paced walking and synchronization with a metronome, and validates these findings with a computational model.

Stroke impairs the proactive control of dynamic balance during predictable treadmill accelerations

This study compares proactive balance control during treadmill accelerations between stroke patients and healthy individuals, finding reduced COM speed reduction in stroke patients.

Fine Motor Serious Game Training Improves Gait in Parkinson s Disease: A Pilot Study

A pilot study shows that serious game training targeting fine motor skills improves gait in Parkinson's Disease patients.

How do we tread? Differences in stability-related foot placement control between overground and treadmill walking in young adults

This study compares foot placement control during overground and treadmill walking, finding differences in stability mechanisms and precision.

A polygon model of the functional base-of-support during standing improves the accuracy of balance analysis

This paper introduces a geometric model of the functional base-of-support (fBOS) during standing, showing it improves balance analysis accuracy compared to marker-based models.

Effects of Single-Session Perturbation-Based Balance Training with Progressive Intensities on Resilience and Dynamic Gait Stability in Healthy Older Adults

This study examines the effects of a single session of perturbation-based balance training on balance recovery in older adults, finding improved stability but no change in recovery speed.

Posterior parietal cortex activity during visually cued gait: a preliminary study

This study examines PPC activity during visually cued gait and its relation to gait variability in young adults.

Impaired Sensory Gating During Standing Balance in Parkinson's Disease

This study shows that individuals with Parkinson's disease have impaired sensory gating during standing balance, as evidenced by elevated somatosensory-evoked potential amplitudes, despite comparable postural sway to healthy older adults.

A biomechanical investigation of stair descent in postmenopausal women: A regression analysis considering walking speed and T-score

This study examines how stair descent speed and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) affect gait biomechanics in postmenopausal women, finding that both factors significantly influence lower limb mechanics and balance strategies.

Visual dependence in postural control is increased in older adults

This study shows older adults rely more on visual input for postural control than younger adults, as measured by a virtual reality-based test.

Validity of measures of reactive balance training intensity

This study validates measures of reactive balance training intensity by correlating perturbation magnitude with various physiological and perceptual metrics.

Uneven Walking is Challenging: step-ups or extended steps that is the question

The paper investigates whether extending step length or stepping over perturbations is more energy-efficient during uneven walking, finding a velocity-dependent threshold for each strategy.

Peak Anteroposterior Heel Slip Acceleration Predicts Lateral Trunk Flexion During Unexpected Slip Perturbations

This study identifies peak anteroposterior heel slip acceleration as a predictor of lateral trunk flexion during unexpected slips, suggesting it as an early destabilizing mechanism.

Words Matter with Age: Instructions Dictate Self-Selected Walking Speed in Young and Older Adults

This study shows that walking speed in young and older adults varies similarly due to instructions, but age differences in response to instructions affect gait speed outcomes.

Choosing safety or success: Fall-avoidance preference limits goal achievement during whole-body movements

This study shows that the central nervous system prioritizes postural safety over task success when postural demands exceed a certain threshold during whole-body movements.

Smaller stepping thresholds in older adults might be related to reduced ability to suppress conflicting sensory information

This study finds older adults step at smaller postural disturbances due to reduced ability to suppress conflicting sensory information, not reduced sensory acuity or strength.

Triceps Surae Muscle Ia Proprioceptive Weighting During Quiet Stance with Vision Occlusion

This study examines how vision occlusion affects the weighting of triceps surae muscle Ia proprioception during quiet stance, finding increased reliance on proprioceptive feedback when vision is blocked.

Resting-state alpha reactivity is reduced in Parkinson disease and associated with gait variability

This study finds reduced alpha reactivity in Parkinson's disease patients compared to healthy controls, which correlates with increased gait variability.

Postural demands modulate tactile perception in the lower limb in young and older adults

This study examines how postural demands affect tactile perception in the lower limb in young and older adults, finding that higher postural demands reduce tactile sensitivity and increase sway.

Postural Stability During Illusory Self-Motion - Interactions of Vision and Touch

This study investigates how vision and touch interact to stabilize postural balance during illusory self-motion, finding that visual motion perception influences balance stochasticity and that touch interacts with visual motion perception.

The Role of Physical Activity in Mitigating Age-Related Changes in the Neuromuscular Control of Gait

This study examines how physical activity affects neuromuscular control of gait in young and older adults, finding that less active older adults show worse gait mechanics due to changes in neuromuscular control and muscle properties.

Harmonization of Margin of Stability Calculations and Investigation of the Impact of Foot Length, Foot Width, Gait Speed, and Body Mass

This study evaluates differences in margin of stability (MoS) calculations using various base of support definitions and investigates the impact of anthropometric factors on MoS measures.

The balance stabilising benefit of social touch: influence of an individual's age and the partner's relative body characteristics

This paper investigates how age and partner body characteristics influence the balance stabilizing benefit of interpersonal touch across different sensory conditions.

Speed amplitude and period affect gait variability and step followability under sinusoidal speed changing conditions

This study examines how sinusoidal speed changes with different amplitudes and periods affect gait variability and step followability in healthy young adults.

Feature-Mask-Based Strategies for Subtype-Specific Freezing of Gait Detection using CNNs

This paper develops a feature-mask-based CNN to detect freezing of gait subtypes, finding that manifestation-specific models improve detection sensitivity and specificity compared to general models.

Anxiety-related attentional characteristics and their relation to freezing of gait in people with Parkinson's - cross-validation of the Adapted Gait Specific Attentional Profile (G-SAP-PD)

This paper validates a 10-item questionnaire (G-SAP-PD) to measure anxiety-related attentional processes in Parkinson's patients and finds associations between specific subscales and freezing of gait frequency.

Perturbing postural stability during treadmill walking with dysfunctional electrical stimulation

This study uses dysfunctional electrical stimulation to perturb treadmill walking and identifies conditions that reduce postural stability.