Sensory Treadmill to Improve of Balance During Walking

描述(申请人提供)：该项目的长期目标是为因年龄增长而平衡控制能力较差的个人开发“智能健康”技术。健康衰老的一个关键因素是机动性。当行动受限时，健康和生活质量会显著下降，同时会显著增加医疗保健系统的成本。“智能健康”技术将在保持机动性和降低医疗成本增长方面发挥关键作用。治疗老年人行动不便问题的两大障碍是通道和成本。我们的方法是修改一种成熟的设备(即跑步机)，从目前专注于心血管训练转向平衡和身体位置控制。控制人的直立姿势需要来自多个来源的感觉输入来检测自我运动并产生适当的肌肉反应。老年人的自我运动知觉下降，经常产生不适当的姿势反应来保持平衡，增加了他们跌倒的风险。需要 是提供一种易于使用、价格实惠的设备，提供增强的感觉输入，已被证明可以改善行走过程中对自我运动和平衡的控制，在行走过程中，摔倒最频繁。该项目的具体目标是：确定通过带视觉反馈的跑步机行走改善对身体位置的控制是否能够增强功能移动性。受试者在感官跑步机上行走，活动受试者的后备箱。然后，树干数据被显示为行走的化身，受试者用他们的手在可视屏幕前控制，而两个网络摄像头跟踪身体运动的标记。初步数据表明，受试者在跑步机上有效地利用视觉反馈来改善对身体位置和方向的控制。该项目将通过临床前对功能活动能力的评估，比较在易摔倒的老年人中使用典型跑步机和感觉跑步机进行为期八周的干预的效果。该项目的结果将说明新技术如何通过以安全、负担得起和有效的方式提供平衡培训来满足老龄化人口的功能需求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this project is to develop "smart health" technology for individuals with poor balance control due to aging. A critical component of healthy aging is mobility. When mobility is limited, health and quality of life declines dramaticaly while adding significant cost to the health care system. "Smart health" technologies are poised to play a key role in maintaining mobility and reducing the growth of health care costs. Two major barriers to treating mobility problems in older adults are access and cost. Our approach is to modify a well-established device (i.e., treadmill) from its current focus on cardiovascular training to that of balance and body position control. Control of human upright stance requires sensory input from multiple sources to detect self-motion and to generate appropriate muscle responses. Older individuals have degraded self-motion perception and often generate inappropriate postural responses to maintain equilibrium, increasing their risk for falls. The need is to provide an easy-to-use, affordable device that provides augmented sensory input which has been proven to improve control of self-motion and balance during walking, during which falls are most frequent. The specific aim of the project is: To determine whether improved control of body position through treadmill walking with visual feedback leads to enhanced functional mobility. Subjects walk on the sensory treadmill the moving subject's trunk. Trunk data are then displayed as a walking avatar that subjects control with their in front of a visual screen while two web cams track markers on body movements. Preliminary data demonstrate that subjects effectively use the visual feedback to improve control of body position and orientation while on the treadmill. The project will compare the effects of eight-week interventions with a typical treadmill versus a sensory treadmill in fall-prone older subjects through pre- post clinical evaluations of functional mobility. The results of this project will illustrate how new technology can address the functional needs of the aging population, by providing access to balance training in a safe, affordable and effective manner.