The Pilot Study of the Use of Force Platform in Home-based Therapy of Balance Disorders

Czech version

Authors: M. Janatová ^1,2; M. Tichá ^1,2; R. Melecký ¹; K. Hána ¹; O. Švestková ^1,2; J. Jeřábek ^1,3
Authors‘ workplace: Společné pracoviště biomedicínského inženýrství FBMI ČVUT a 1. LF UK, Praha ¹; Klinika rehabilitačního lékařství 1. LF UK a VFN v Praze ²; Neurologická klinika 2. LF UK a FN v Motole, Praha ³
Published in: Cesk Slov Neurol N 2016; 79/112(5): 591-594
Category: Short Communication

Overview

Aim:
The aim of the pilot study was to verify usability of a newly developed system that utilizes a force platform and visual feedback for home-based balance training.

Material and methods:
The pilot study was performed in 14 respondents (13 women and one man) with the mean age of 67 ± 7 years. The balance training took place in domestic environment for a period of 26 days with the use of interactive system employing the principle of visual feedback. All volunteers reported subjective perception of balance issues but no significant objective risk of fall was diagnosed. Non-parametric Friedman’s test was used to evaluate the effect of the therapy.

Results:
The results showed that the time required to finish the same reference training scene significantly decreased at the level of significance of 0.001 (chi-square = 113.56, s.v. = 21, n = 14; p = 0.001). All subjects improved their ability to react to scene changes in virtual environment by shifting their centre of gravity.

Conclusion:
We verified usability of this custom-developed system for home-based balance training. Further randomized study incorporating larger data set is needed to validate the effect of the therapy.

Key words:
visual feedback – force platform – rehabilitation – balance disorders – home-based therapy

The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study.

The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE “uniform requirements” for biomedical papers.

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