Measuring ankle proprioception DURING walking using a robotized ankle-foot orthosis: Towards a quantitative method to assess clinical populations

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• 作者：L. Bouyer ; Prof ; ^{laurent.bouyer@rea.ulaval.ca" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; J. Bouffard ; A. Fournier-Belley ; C. Mercier ; Prof ; J.S. Roy ; Prof
• 关键词：Robotized orthosis ; Proprioception ; Gait
• 刊名：Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：September 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：58
• 期：supp_S1
• 页码：e97
• 全文大小：213 K

文摘

Evaluation of lower limb proprioception is usually done under static conditions. Sensory inputs are partially gated during movements, however. This gating might explain the lack of correlation between static proprioceptive testing and motor performance in clinical populations. The goal of the present study was therefore to determine if proprioception could reliably be estimated during actual walking.

Methods

Twenty healthy subjects walked on a treadmill while wearing a robotized ankle-foot orthosis (see Noel et al., 2008; 2 visits within 2–7 days). Short-duration force perturbations (150 ms; n = 96) of graded amplitude (1–7 Nm; producing ankle deviations of 1–12°) were applied during the swing phase of gait, once every 5–10 strides. Participants pressed a hand-held button each time they felt a perturbation. To determine proprioceptive threshold, % detection was then plotted as a function of ankle deviations. A sigmoidal curve was fitted to individual subject data. Proprioceptive threshold was defined as the ankle deviation at which subjects detected 50% of the perturbations. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were then calculated to determine the test-retest reliability.

Results

Median proprioceptive threshold was 5.25° (range 1.04°–9.14°; n = 20). The ICC was 0.792, indicating a good reliability.

Discussion

This pilot study suggests that a threshold for movement error detection can be reliably obtained during walking in healthy subjects. This proprioceptive threshold is higher than what is reported during static tasks, likely reflecting the sensory gating occurring during movement, and emphasizing the need to perform this assessment during walking. Further studies are now underway to determine if this method can be used as a tool for proprioception assessment in clinical populations.