Effects of vestibular stimulation on gait stability when walking at different step widths

Magnani, Rina Márcia; Dieën, Jaap H. van; Bruijn, Sjoerd M.

doi:10.1007/s00221-022-06488-3

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The models proposed by Wang & Srinivasan Special issue: Effects of aging on locomotor patterns from several other studies on mediolateral control 15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 and to data from one other study on anteroposterior control 13,24 . Jin et al 24 showed that, as for mediolateral foot placement, the anteroposterior center of mass position and velocity in the corresponding direction only provide a good prediction of anteroposterior foot placement, supporting a more parsimonious model for the control of foot placement than the original model 13 .…”

Section: Foot Placementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For steady-state walking, the correlation between center of mass state and foot placement 13 described in section 2.1 has been interpreted as reflective of active control, but it could also result from passive coupling of movements of the leg to the movements of the upper body 60 . For mediolateral foot placement, it has been shown that lowering stabilization demands, by increasing prescribed step width, decreases the strength of the coupling between mediolateral center of mass state and foot placement 15,23 . This phenomenon is even clearer when subjects walking on a treadmill are externally stabilized by a springloaded construction, creating a force-field that corrects mediolateral deviations of the center of mass 19 .…”

Section: Sensing and Actuation Of Foot Placementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mechanisms that stabilize human walking

Leeuwen

Bruijn

Dieën

2022

BJMB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper we review what mechanisms are used to stabilize human bipedal gait. Based on mechanical reasoning, potential mechanisms to control the body center of mass trajectory are modulation of foot placement, stance leg control consisting of modulation of ankle moments and push-off forces, and modulations of the body’s angular momentum. The first two mechanisms and especially the first are dominant in controlling center of mass accelerations during gait, while angular momentum control plays a lesser role, but may be important to control body alignment and orientation. The same control mechanisms stabilize both steady-state and perturbed gait in both the mediolateral and antero-posterior directions. Control is at least in part active and is affected by proprioceptive, visual and vestibular information. Results support that this reflects a feedback process in which sensory information is used to obtain an estimate of the center of mass state based on which foot placement and ankle moments are modulated. These active feedback mechanisms suggest training approaches for populations at risk of falling, such as augmenting their effective use by means of augmented feedback, or using their complementary nature to train one mechanism by constraining the other mechanisms.

show abstract

Section: Foot Placementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sensing and Actuation Of Foot Placementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms that stabilize human walking

Leeuwen

Bruijn

Dieën

2022

BJMB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1 B & 1 C ). These signal characteristics were identical to those used previously (Magnani et al., 2021; Magnani et al., 2023), in which measurable responses to EVS in muscle activity, ground reaction force and foot placement were reported, demonstrating the effectiveness of this EVS protocol.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A narrow step width, which reduces the base of support, poses greater challenges to stability and, as such, increases the demands on postural control (Arvin et al., 2016; Magnani et al., 2023). A previous study demonstrated that vestibular contributions are modulated by the stabilization demands of walking (Magnani et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertebral level specific modulation of paraspinal muscle activity based on vestibular signals during walking

Li,

Bruijn,

Lemaire

et al. 2024

The Journal of Physiology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Evoking muscle responses by electrical vestibular stimulation (EVS) may help to understand the contribution of the vestibular system to postural control. Although paraspinal muscles play a role in postural stability, the vestibulo‐muscular coupling of these muscles during walking has rarely been studied. This study aimed to investigate how vestibular signals affect paraspinal muscle activity at different vertebral levels during walking with preferred and narrow step width. Sixteen healthy participants were recruited. Participants walked on a treadmill for 8 min at 78 steps/min and 2.8 km/h, at two different step width, either with or without EVS. Bipolar electromyography was recorded bilaterally from the paraspinal muscles at eight vertebral levels from cervical to lumbar. Coherence, gain, and delay of EVS and EMG responses were determined. Significant EVS‐EMG coupling (P < 0.01) was found at ipsilateral and/or contralateral heel strikes. This coupling was mirrored between left and right relative to the midline of the trunk and between the higher and lower vertebral levels, i.e. a peak occurred at ipsilateral heel strike at lower levels, whereas it occurred at contralateral heel strike at higher levels. EVS‐EMG coupling only partially coincided with peak muscle activity. EVS‐EMG coherence slightly, but not significantly, increased when walking with narrow steps. No significant differences were found in gain and phase between the vertebral levels or step width conditions. In summary, vertebral level specific modulation of paraspinal muscle activity based on vestibular signals might allow a fast, synchronized, and spatially co‐ordinated response along the trunk during walking. imageKey points Mediolateral stabilization of gait requires an estimate of the state of the body, which is affected by vestibular afference. During gait, the heavy trunk segment is controlled by phasic paraspinal muscle activity and in rodents the medial and lateral vestibulospinal tracts activate these muscles. To gain insight in vestibulospinal connections in humans and their role in gait, we recorded paraspinal surface EMG of cervical to lumbar paraspinal muscles, and characterized coherence, gain and delay between EMG and electrical vestibular stimulation, during slow walking. Vestibular stimulation caused phasic, vertebral level specific modulation of paraspinal muscle activity at delays of around 40 ms, which was mirrored between left, lower and right, upper vertebral levels. Our results indicate that vestibular afference causes fast, synchronized, and spatially co‐ordinated responses of the paraspinal muscles along the trunk, that simultaneously contribute to stabilizing the centre of mass trajectory and to keeping the head upright.

show abstract

“…In aging and age-related diseases, errors in foot placement, changes in pelvis velocity and movement, limited active control of ankle movements, or even the typical changes in steps metrics (width, length) may reflect in the reduced stabilization of walking. For instance, by increasing step width, typically observed in older and PD individuals, the strength of the coupling of the mediolateral CoM state and foot placement may decrease 24 . Additionally, as also mentioned by van Leeuwen et al 23 , sensing and actuation of those mechanisms are strictly relevant to actively controlling stability during gait.…”

Section: Mechanism To Control Stability During Walkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: Effects of aging on locomotor patterns

Santos

Orcioli‐Silva

2022

BJMB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aging and age-associated neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, may impair walking performance. Changes in walking performance are related to an increase in fall risk, institutionalization, hospitalization, survival rate, and mortality. Due to the increase in the older population, especially age-related diseases, the number of research aiming at understanding the mechanisms behind such changes and tools (interventions) to improve walking performance has increased substantially. In this special issue, we target to compile information and strengthen the discussion about whether and how aging and AD, and PD affect walking (the most common way of human locomotion), and potential interventions to improve walking in these populations. A total of 5 studies composed this special issue, including 4 original papers and 1 review

show abstract

Effects of vestibular stimulation on gait stability when walking at different step widths

Cited by 9 publications

References 51 publications

Mechanisms that stabilize human walking

Mechanisms that stabilize human walking

Vertebral level specific modulation of paraspinal muscle activity based on vestibular signals during walking

Editorial: Effects of aging on locomotor patterns

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About