Interpersonal interactions for haptic guidance during balance exercises

Steinl, Saskia M., Sparto, Patrick J., Atkeson, Christopher G., Redfern, Mark S. and Johannsen, Leif ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2441-3163 (2018) Interpersonal interactions for haptic guidance during balance exercises. Gait & Posture, 65. pp. 129-136. ISSN 0966-6362

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Abstract

Background: Caregiver–patient interaction relies on interpersonal coordination during support provided by a therapist to a patient with impaired control of body balance. Research question: The purpose of this study was to investigate in a therapeutic context active and passive participant involvement during interpersonal support in balancing tasks of increasing sensorimotor difficulty. Methods: Ten older adults stood in semi-tandem stance and received support from a physical therapist (PT) in two support conditions: 1) physical support provided by the PT to the participant’s back via an instrumented handle affixed to a harness worn by the participant (“passive” interpersonal touch; IPT) or 2) support by PT and participant jointly holding a handle instrumented with a force-torque transducer while facing each other (“active” IPT). The postural stability of both support conditions was measured using the root-mean-square (RMS) of the Centre-of-Pressure velocity (RMS dCOP) in the antero-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) directions. Interpersonal postural coordination (IPC) was characterized in terms of cross-correlations between both individuals’ sway fluctuations as well as the measured interaction forces. Results: Active involvement of the participant decreased the participant’s postural variability to a greater extent, especially under challenging stance conditions, than receiving support passively. In the passive support condition, however, stronger in-phase IPC between both partners was observed in the antero-posterior direction, possibly caused by a more critical (visual or tactile) observation of participants’ body sway dynamics by the therapist. In-phase cross-correlation time lags indicated that the therapist tended to respond to participants’ body sway fluctuations in a reactive follower mode, which could indicate visual dominance affecting the therapist during the provision of haptic support. Significance: Our paradigm implies that in balance rehabilitation more partnership-based methods promote greater postural steadiness. The implications of this finding with regard to motor learning and rehabilitation need to be investigated.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	interpersonal coordination,balance rehabilitation,social postural coordination,haptic support
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Rehabilitation
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2018 15:33
Last Modified:	02 Nov 2024 00:43
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/67729
DOI:	10.1016/j.gaitpost.2018.07.163

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