Lee Beom-Chan, Martin Bernard J, Thrasher Timothy A, Layne Charles S
IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2017 Mar;25(3):235-243. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2556690.
Effective fall prevention technologies need to detect and transmit the key information that will alert an individual in advance about a potential fall. This study investigated advanced vibrotactile cuing that may facilitate trip recovery for balance-impaired individuals who are prone to falling. A split-belt treadmill that simulated unpredictable trip perturbations was developed to compare balance recovery without and with cuing. Kinetic and kinematic measures from force plates and full body motion capture system were used to characterize the recovery responses. Experiment I evaluated recovery adaptation resulting from repeated trip exposure without vibrotactile cuing. Experiment II investigated the effects of vibrotactile cuing as a function of cuing location (upper arm, trunk, lower leg) and lead time prior to a trip (250, 500 ms). Experiment I showed that trip recovery improved progressively from the fourth to the eighth trial. Experiment II showed that trip recovery was almost the same as the eighth trial in Experiment I, regardless of the location of the cuing stimulus and lead time. The results suggest that a combination of vibrotactile cuing and hazard detection technology could reduce the risk of trips and falls.
有效的跌倒预防技术需要检测并传输关键信息，以便提前向个人警示潜在的跌倒风险。本研究调查了先进的振动触觉提示技术，该技术可能有助于平衡能力受损且容易跌倒的个体在绊倒后恢复平衡。研发了一种模拟不可预测绊倒扰动的分体式跑步机，以比较有无提示情况下的平衡恢复情况。使用来自测力板和全身运动捕捉系统的动力学和运动学测量方法来表征恢复反应。实验I评估了在无振动触觉提示的情况下，重复绊倒暴露所导致的恢复适应性。实验II研究了振动触觉提示作为提示位置（上臂、躯干、小腿）和绊倒前提前时间（250、500毫秒）的函数的效果。实验I表明，从第四次试验到第八次试验，绊倒恢复情况逐渐改善。实验II表明，无论提示刺激的位置和提前时间如何，绊倒恢复情况几乎与实验I中的第八次试验相同。结果表明，振动触觉提示和危险检测技术相结合可以降低绊倒和跌倒的风险。
