Disentangling the contribution of the paretic and non-paretic leg to
balance control in stroke patients
E.H.F. van Asseldonk1, J.H. Buurke2, F.C.T. van
der Helm2,3 and Herman van der Kooij2
1Department of Biomechanical Engineering, University of
Twente, Twente, The Netherlands
2Roessingh Research & Development, Enschede, The Netherlands
3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Delft University of
Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Introduction
During stroke recovery, both physiological recovery of the paretic leg
and adaptative compensation in the non-paretic leg may contribute to improved
balance maintenance. Here, we examine a new approach to disentangle these
different recovery mechanisms and to objectively quantify the contribution
of the paretic and non-paretic leg in balance control.
Method
Balance responses were elicited by random continuous platform movements
(forward-backward), and body sway were measured as well as the ground
reaction forces below each foot to calculate corrective ankle torques
in each leg. From these data the relative contribution of the paretic
and non-paretic leg to the total amount of generated corrective torque
to correct body sway.
Results and discussion
Even in patients with a fairly symmetrical weight distribution (more than
40% on the paretic leg), we observed a clear asymmetry in balance contribution
in favour of the non-paretic leg. Overall, the paretic leg made a significantly
(P<0.05) smaller balance contribution than the non-paretic leg. The
presented approach allows for an objective quantification of the contribution
of each leg to overall balance maintenance.
Paper presented
at Measuring Behavior 2005
, 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques
in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
© 2005 Noldus
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