 |
 |
Tom, Another reference for you is: Thelen E.,Ulrich B.D.,& Jensen J. L.(1989),The Developmental Origins of Locomotion in M.H.Woolcott & A.Shumway-Cook(Eds.), Development of Posture and Gait Across the Life Span(pp 25-47), Colunbia Univ. of S. Carolina. The 3-4/98 issue of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, pp81-88,Early Detection of PD Through Automatic Movement Evaluation may be of interest to you.It's from the Technical Univ. of Budapest. you may be able to download it from the net using: http://www.mmt.bme.hu/-jobbagy/ Their technique was demomstrated using finger movements,but should be applicable for gait analysis as well. Re my background,I am a CG for Aliza(74,PD 3+) and have no medical background. I do have a Ph.D. in Communication System Science and many years work experience in Communications,Signal Processing,Navigation Systems and some Control Systems background with particular interest in Adaptive Control of time- variable systems. Aliza's PD is characterized by right hand tremor and weakness,slowness(bradykinesia) and poor balance.These are not due to the lack of rsponse to visual stimuli but due to internal neurophysiological processes.The imbalance is also conditioned by fear of falling based on previous falling experiences.It is nt vestibular at all. Tom,what is your bacground? Regards. Gil At 07:36 AM 4/24/98 -0400, you wrote: >Dear Gil, > >I have built both acoustic and tactile feedback devices for gait >enablement. I have not used motion detectors (accelerometers) but rather >more crude in-shoe momentary swictches. Tactile feedback consists of >in-shoe vibratory feedback. What is interesting is that while both of >these approaches are effective for enabling and sustaining gait, they are >less effective than vision mediated approaches and seem to be >neurologically qualitatively different. The latter is much more reliable >over the range of severity of akinesia and more reflexive as well - >requiring much less and in certain circumstances no conscious attention to >the cues. It's as though the vision mediated approach addresses the >fundamental underlying pathology and the others are merely adjunctive aids. > >Regarding "motion stability", I have yet to be convinced that such >instability is based on vestibular problems. Tie a normal persons shoes >together and try the push-pull test and you have a very unstable person >resulting exclusively from insufficient available stride length. > >By the way, what is your background? You seem to have more than a casual >understanding of these matters. > >regards, > >Tom > >