Simulator for parkinsonists
Parkinson's disease is widespread worldwide among people over 60 years of age. Motor disorders lead to frequent falls and injuries: about 70% of patients fall at least once a year, most of them suffer from repeated falls. The incidence of falls and injuries in patients with Parkinson's disease is twice as high as among their peers without this disease. Therefore, improving coordination and balance in Parkinson's disease is of great importance for improving the quality of life of elderly patients.
The group of Professor Sunil Agrawal from Columbia University conducted a study of a robotic device for training coordination and walking, including overcoming obstacles. The study involved both patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy people. In both cases, after one workout, participants noted improved coordination and balance. This proved that Parkinson's disease does not affect coordination and the ability to overcome obstacles when walking.
A group of researchers used a robotic system of their own production "Tethered Pelvic Assist Device" (TPAD). The TPAD system is a lightweight portable robotic device that can be programmed to create a load on the pelvis of the desired intensity and in the right direction during a workout on a treadmill.
Schematic representation of the operation of the TPAD robotic device during classes of patients with Parkinson's disease. Source: Sunil Agrawal/Columbia Engineering.
Previously, the TPAD device was used to teach walking skills to children with cerebral palsy, it showed good results.
Most often, patients with Parkinson's disease fall while walking, although previously only static disorders associated with the disease were studied. The TPAD device made it possible to study the body's response and adaptive responses to repetitive pelvic displacements caused by a change in the center of gravity generated by TPAD in healthy elderly people and study participants with Parkinson's disease.
The study involved nine patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and nine of their healthy peers. Before training, the ability to maintain balance while walking on a treadmill was evaluated. Then all participants were put on a TPAD in the form of a light belt, to which several wires were connected. They performed a training session with interference generated by TPAD in different directions and of different intensity.
During the training, the researchers programmed TPAD to create 72 random interferences for each of the participants, which were directed in different directions and had different degrees of intensity, the load was alternately given to both legs.
After the workout, the participants walked on a treadmill without TPAD, this was done to assess the effect of the exercise on coordination and balance.
It was found that before the study in patients with Parkinson's disease, the indicators of balance and balance were noticeably lagging behind healthy people. After training, both groups showed progress in overcoming obstacles and fluctuations, and their gait became more confident.
These studies have shown that one balance training led to tangible improvements in the gait of patients with Parkinson's disease. The TPAD system can be used to develop physical exercises to prevent falls and, in the future, to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.
It is necessary to conduct a larger study in which it would be possible to evaluate the long-term effect of training with a TPAD device among a larger number of patients.
Article by Dario Martelli et al. Adaptation of Stability during Perturbed Walking in Parkinson's Disease is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Columbia Engineering: Robotic device improves balance and gait in Parkinson's disease patients.