Masters Applied Projects
Masters Applied Projects
Project 25
Project 25
Modulating Gait Symmetric Adaptation via Split-Belt Treadmill Distortion and Visual Feedback Distortion and Evaluating the Aftereffects of Adapted Step Length Symmetry
Student: Emily Tanner
Mentors: Dr. Hyunglae Lee – SEMTE
Dr. Claire Honeycutt – SBHSE
Dr. Jeffrey Kleim – SBHSE
YouTube Link: View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting
Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/82191624348
Time: 10am – 2pm
Abstract
Following neurological disease or injury, such as stroke, it is common for patients to lose functionality and coordination of their lower limbs. These functional deficits can significantly limit a person’s ability to complete everyday tasks and reduce their quality of life. Rehabilitation techniques, such as gait training, are widely used in the clinical setting to help patients rebuild their ability to walk independently and efficiently. Previously published studies have demonstrated the individual effectiveness of split-belt treadmill training and visual distortion on gait modulation individually, as measured by changes in step-length symmetry during walking and the amount of time that step asymmetry is retained post-adaptation. The present study aims to characterize the combined effect of both split-belt speed modulation and visual distortion on gait asymmetry. The findings of this research will help develop more robust gait modulation techniques to achieve greater and longer-sustained combined aftereffects post-adaptation. Healthy adult human subjects were recruited from the Arizona State University population to participate in this study. Three experimental conditions were tested and compared: split-belt speed modulation only (SB), visual distortion modulation only (VD), and combined split-belt and visual distortion modulation (VDSB). Initial results from a small sample size show promise that VDSB gait modulation will lead to greater gait asymmetry retention over time when compared to SB or VD alone. Future work will involve further testing of these gait modulation conditions with a larger sample size. Eventually, the goal is to implement these techniques with patients suffering from neurological disease or injury.