Citation

Ehrenberg N, Veerubhotla A, Nolan K, Pilkar R. Annu. Int. Conf. IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Soc. 2021; 2021: 4855-4858.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers))

DOI

10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630258

PMID

34892296

Abstract

The objective of the current investigation was to examine the presence, absence or alteration of fundamental postural control strategies in individuals post traumatic brain injury (TBI) in response to base of support perturbations in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction. Four age-matched healthy controls (age: 46.50 ± 5.45 years) and four individuals diagnosed with TBI (age: 48.50 ± 9.47 years, time since injury: 6.02 ± 4.47 years) performed standing on instrumented balance platform with integrated force plates while 3D motion capture data was collected at 60 Hz. The platform was programmed to move in the AP direction, during a sequence of 5 perturbations delivered in a sinusoidal pattern at a frequency of 1 Hz, with decreasing amplitudes of 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 mm respectively. The sagittal plane peak-to-peak range and root mean square (RMS) of the hip, knee, and ankle joint angles during the 5 seconds of perturbation were computed from optical motion capture data. The TBI group had a higher mean range (5.17 ± 1.91°) about the ankle compared to the HC group (4.17 ± 0.81°) for the 10mm perturbation, but their mean range was smaller than the HCs for the other 4 conditions. About the hip, the TBI group's mean range was larger than the HC's for all conditions. For both groups, the mean range decreased with perturbation amplitude for all conditions. The TBI group showed larger changes in mean range and RMS values as the amplitude of the perturbation changed, while the HC group showed smaller intertrial changes. The results suggest that the TBI group was substantially more reliant on the hip strategy to maintain balance during the perturbations and this reliance was well linked with perturbation amplitude.Clinical Relevance- Existing information regarding changes in postural control strategies in individuals post TBI is limited. The current work demonstrates lower limb kinematic differences between HC and TBI and some preliminary evidence on increased hip movement in the TBI group.

Language: en