Trunk Velocity Changes in Response to Physical Perturbations Are Potential Indicators of Gait Stability

Farahnaz Fallahtafti*, Sjoerd Bruijn, Arash Mohammadzadeh Gonabadi, Mohammad Sangtarashan, Julie Blaskewicz Boron, Carolin Curtze, Ka Chun Siu, Sara A. Myers, Jennifer Yentes*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Response to challenging situations is important to avoid falls, especially after medial perturbations, which require active control. There is a lack of evidence on the relationship between the trunk’s motion in response to perturbations and gait stability. Eighteen healthy adults walked on a treadmill at three speeds while receiving perturbations of three magnitudes. Medial perturbations were applied by translating the walking platform to the right at left heel contact. Trunk velocity changes in response to the perturbation were calculated and divided into the initial and the recovery phases. Gait stability after a perturbation was assessed using the margin of stability (MOS) at the first heel contact, MOS mean, and standard deviation for the first five strides after the perturbation onset. Faster speed and smaller perturbations led to a lower deviation of trunk velocity from the steady state, which can be interpreted as an improvement in response to the perturbation. Recovery was quicker after small perturbations. The MOS mean was associated with the trunk’s motion in response to perturbations during the initial phase. Increasing walking speed may increase resistance to perturbations, while increasing the magnitude of perturbation leads to greater trunk motions. MOS is a useful marker of resistance to perturbations.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2833
Pages (from-to)1-15
Number of pages15
JournalSensors
Volume23
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

This article belongs to the Special Issue: Wearable Sensors for Postural Stability and Fall Risk Analyses.

Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (P20 GM109090), SPiRE Award #I21RX003294 from the United States (US) Department of Veterans Affairs, and by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (016.Vidi.178.014). This work was supported in part by the funds from the University of Nebraska at Omaha Graduate Research and Creative Activity Fund (FFT).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (P20 GM109090), SPiRE Award #I21RX003294 from the United States (US) Department of Veterans Affairs, and by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (016.Vidi.178.014). This work was supported in part by the funds from the University of Nebraska at Omaha Graduate Research and Creative Activity Fund (FFT).

Keywords

  • gait
  • recovery
  • resistance
  • stability
  • trunk velocity

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