Noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) is often used to improve postural stability in disorders, such as neurorehabilitation montage. For the safe use of nGVS, we investigated whether arterial ...pressure (AP) and heart rate vary during static supine and slow whole-body tilt with random nGVS (0.4 mA, 0.1-640 Hz, gaussian distribution) in a healthy elderly population.
This study was conducted with a double-blind, sham-controlled, cross-over design. Seventeen healthy older adults were recruited. They were asked to maintain a static supine position on a bed for 10 min, and the bed was tilted up (TU) to 70 degrees within 30 s. After maintaining this position for 3 min, the bed was passively tilted down (TD) within 30 s. Real-nGVS or sham-nGVS was applied from 4 to 15 min. The time course of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and RR interval variability (RRIV) were analyzed to estimate the autonomic nervous activity.
nGVS and/or time, including pre-/post-event (nGVS-start, TU, and TD), had no impact on MAP and RRIV-related parameters. Further, there was no evidence supporting the argument that nGVS induces pain, vertigo/dizziness, and uncomfortable feeling.
nGVS may not affect the AP and RRIV during static position and whole-body tilting or cause pain, vertigo/dizziness, and discomfort in the elderly.
The purpose of this study was to investigate abnormalities of the first three steps of gait initiation in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with freezing of gait (FOG). Ten PD patients with FOG ...and 10 age-matched healthy controls performed self-generated gait initiation. The center of pressure (COP), heel contact positions, and spatiotemporal parameters were estimated from the vertical pressures on the surface of the force platform. The initial swing side of gait initiation was consistent among the trials in healthy controls but not among the trials in PD patients. The COP and the heel contact position deviated to the initial swing side during the first step, and the COP passed medial to each heel contact position during the first two steps in PD patients. Medial deviation of the COP from the first heel contact position had significant correlation with FOG questionnaire item 5. These findings indicate that weight shifting between the legs is abnormal and that medial deviation of the COP from the first heel contact position sensitively reflects the severity of FOG during the first three steps of gait initiation in PD patients with FOG.
The purpose of this study is to clarify cardiac autonomic nervous system activity during slow breathing exercises in a supine position. Eighteen healthy young males were participated. Heart rate ...variability was measured for 5 minutes at rest, 5 minutes at slow breathing, and then 5 minutes at rest. As a result, the LF/HF ratio increased with slow breathing, but HF value did not change. We suggest that the increased LF/HF ratio may be due to increased airway resistance. Cardiac autonomic nervous system activity during slow breathing in the supine position was revealed.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of moderate intensity interval training from the change of the autonomic nervous activity. Ten male volunteers aged 21-22 years were studied. ...After 10-minute rest in a seated position, the subjects were asked to perform the strength of moderate cycling exercise in ergometer. Cycling rate was done in 50 times/min. Load resistance of the ergometer was set to 2.0 kgm. Subjects paused the exercise when the heart rate becomes 120 beats/min. Subjects have resumed the exercise when the heart rate returns to the value at rest. This trial was repeated twice. The experiment was ended when the heart rate of the subjects has returned to resting level. When the heart rate during exercise is maintained to less than 120 beats/min, sympathetic nerve activity during exercise did not work actively compared to the baseline. Vagus nerve activity after exercise cessation exceeds the baseline. It is clarified that the exercise as well as activating the vagus nerve activity stimulates the total autonomic nervous activity. It has revealed that at the time of interval training at moderate load the vagus nerve activity can be carried out.
Stroke patients are at a higher risk of falling than the community-dwelling elderly, and many falls are due to contact with an obstacle. This study compared the effects of the simultaneous addition ...of a cognitive task during obstacle crossing between stroke patients and community-dwelling older adults (control subjects). Participants comprised 20 stroke patients who could walk with or without supervision and 20 control subjects matched for age and height with the stroke patients. Participants were asked to cross a 4-cm-high obstacle while walking at a self-selected speed. The number of failures and the spatial and temporal parameters were compared between a single-task condition (i.e., crossing task only) and a dual-task condition (i.e., verbal fluency task: listing vegetables or animals). Under the dual-task condition, six stroke patients (30%) and three community-dwelling elderly individuals (15%) failed to complete the motor task. Task failure was only due to heel-obstacle contact after toe clearance. In both groups, obstacle-heel distance after clearance was reduced, and the time from heel contact to toe clearance and stride time were significantly increased under dual-task condition versus single-task condition. In addition, group-task interaction for the time from heel contact to toe clearance of the obstacle was significant; this increase in time was significantly greater under dual-task condition in stroke patients than in control subjects. Obstacle crossing in stroke patients involved an increase in crossing performance time and a risk of heel-obstacle contact after crossing. These tendencies appeared stronger under the dual-task condition.
Purpose We divided the jump action into a resting phase and a motion execution phase, so that we could shed light on each phase’s relationship with the whole body reaction time in jump. Subjects and ...Methods Whole body reaction of young subjects in their late teens was recorded with a high-speed video camera to identify moving reaction time. Results The results revealed a high correlation between jumping reaction time and the light stimulus to movement initiation, and the movement initiation to feet-off. Individual variation existed in neural processing velocity of movement preparation and execution, and the processing velocity was shown to reflect the whole body reaction time in jumping. Conclusion The outcome suggests that improvement of body performance can be achieved not only by muscle stretch and elastic energy recruitment training but also by faster neural processing.
ABSTRACT Background/Aim. Trunk lateral flexion is frequently assessed with many measurement tools at clinical setting. The aim of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of a novel ...lateral trunk flexion test (LTFT). Methods. Twelve young men and two raters participated in this study. The LTFT was measured by one rater three times on each side of each participant. Two weeks later, a different rater measured the LTFT in each participant a second time. Test-retest reliability was analyzed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV). The minimum detectable change (MDC) was also calculated. Results. Intra-rater reliability was excellent for both raters: ICC (1,3): right side, 0.90 and 0.94; left side, 0.94 and 0.91. The CVs of the first and second rater were 9.2% and 6.0% for the right side, and 5.8% and 6.9% for the left side. The interrater reliability, which verified the coincidence of the two raters, was also excellent: ICC (2,3) for the right side 0.96 and 0.98 for the left side. The MDC was 1.83 cm for the right side and 1.45 cm for the left side. Conclusions. The LTFT showed excellent test-retest reliability. In the future, it will be necessary to examine the validity of LTFT and to verify the reliability and validity by conducting it on patients with diseases.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the cut-off value of the weight-bearing rate (WBR) on the paretic lower limb that is needed for independent walking without a cane. Methods: The ...participants were 128 stroke patients. Age, sex, muscle strength of both the paretic and non-paretic lower limbs, Brunnstrom recovery stage of the lower limbs, deep sensation, and the WBR on both the paretic and non-paretic lower limbs were used as variables. The patients who could independently walk in the hospital without a cane were categorized as independent group, and those who walked with a cane, or observation or assistance by a staff member were dependent group. Results: The WBR on the paretic lower limb was most strongly related to independent walking without a cane, and a WBR value of 80.5% on the paretic lower limb gave a clear cut-off value (p<0.05). Conclusions: Although multiple factors affect independent walking without a cane in stroke patients, the WBR on the paretic lower limb is the most useful factor for predicting an independent walking without a cane.
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