Register now After registration you will be able to apply for this opportunity online.
This opportunity is not published. No applications will be accepted.
Make Them Fall! Help us design a perturbation device to screen individuals at risk of falls
In this project, the aim is to build a gait perturbation device at the Laboratory of Movement Biomechanics, ETH Zurich and test its useability/functionality in young healthy adults.
Keywords: Biomechanics, Gait, Locomotion, Movement
Standardized perturbations to gait and posture has immensely improved our understanding of stability, balance control and fall risk (Tang, Woollacott et al. 1998, Hof, Vermerris et al. 2010, Vlutters, van Asseldonk et al. 2016). The ability of the brain and the body to generate a quick and accurate recovery response (i.e. resilience) after a loss of balance is critical to avoid falling. Some older adults recover when they experience a falling event or are robust against them, whereas some others decline impulsively upon losing balance and eventually fall. Various parts of the human body combine to shape our response to adverse events. With age and pathology (but also different to each individual’s form and function), scope of an individual to mount an adequate response (resilience) to challenges (sudden loss of balance) gradually decreases (Lipsitz 2002, Ferrucci, Levine et al. 2018). In which case it would be synonymous and qualify as a sensitive marker for fall risk allowing early identification of individuals with a potential risk for falling.
The above investigations have motivated the development of many successful gait perturbation apparatuses to deliver perturbations inside the laboratory and study individual’s response to those challenges(Martelli, Luo et al. 2017, Rasmussen and Hunt 2019, Eveld, King et al. 2021). Moreover, gait and balance perturbing devices are an important piece of equipment that you’d find in a modern-day gait laboratory.
Recently, a team of researchers from Stanford University has open-sourced the design files and instructions of a perturbation system for studying human balance and gait.
https://biomechatronics.stanford.edu/bump-em
Tan*, G. R., Raitor*, M., Collins, S. H. (2020) Bump’em: an open-source, bump-emulation system for studying human balance and gait. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp 9093-9099. *contributed equally.
Standardized perturbations to gait and posture has immensely improved our understanding of stability, balance control and fall risk (Tang, Woollacott et al. 1998, Hof, Vermerris et al. 2010, Vlutters, van Asseldonk et al. 2016). The ability of the brain and the body to generate a quick and accurate recovery response (i.e. resilience) after a loss of balance is critical to avoid falling. Some older adults recover when they experience a falling event or are robust against them, whereas some others decline impulsively upon losing balance and eventually fall. Various parts of the human body combine to shape our response to adverse events. With age and pathology (but also different to each individual’s form and function), scope of an individual to mount an adequate response (resilience) to challenges (sudden loss of balance) gradually decreases (Lipsitz 2002, Ferrucci, Levine et al. 2018). In which case it would be synonymous and qualify as a sensitive marker for fall risk allowing early identification of individuals with a potential risk for falling.
The above investigations have motivated the development of many successful gait perturbation apparatuses to deliver perturbations inside the laboratory and study individual’s response to those challenges(Martelli, Luo et al. 2017, Rasmussen and Hunt 2019, Eveld, King et al. 2021). Moreover, gait and balance perturbing devices are an important piece of equipment that you’d find in a modern-day gait laboratory.
Recently, a team of researchers from Stanford University has open-sourced the design files and instructions of a perturbation system for studying human balance and gait. https://biomechatronics.stanford.edu/bump-em
Tan*, G. R., Raitor*, M., Collins, S. H. (2020) Bump’em: an open-source, bump-emulation system for studying human balance and gait. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp 9093-9099. *contributed equally.
- Design and Development of a gait perturbation device
- Testing in a young healthy sample to assess their resilience (Ravi, Bartholet et al. 2021)
- Publication of results
- Design and Development of a gait perturbation device - Testing in a young healthy sample to assess their resilience (Ravi, Bartholet et al. 2021) - Publication of results