Citation

Howell D, Osternig L, Chou LS. J. Biomech. 2015; 48(12): 3364-3368.

Affiliation

Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA. Electronic address: chou@uoregon.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.06.014

PMID

26152463

Abstract

Despite medical best-practice recommendations, no consistent standard exists to systematically monitor recovery from concussion. Studies utilizing camera-based systems have reported center-of-mass (COM) motion control deficits persisting in individuals with concussion up to two months post-injury. The use of an accelerometer may provide an efficient and sensitive method to monitor COM alterations following concussion that can be employed in clinical settings. This study examined: (1) frontal/sagittal plane acceleration characteristics during dual-task walking for individuals with concussion and healthy controls; and (2) the effectiveness of utilizing acceleration characteristics to classify concussed and healthy individuals via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Individuals with concussion completed testing within 72h as well as 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months post-injury. Control subjects completed the same protocol in similar time increments. Participants walked and simultaneously completed a cognitive task while wearing an accelerometer attached to L5. Participants with concussion walked with significantly less peak medial-lateral acceleration during 55-75% gait cycle (p=0.04) throughout the testing period compared with controls. Moderate levels of sensitivity and specificity were found at the 72h and 1 week testing times (sensitivity=0.70, specificity=0.71). ROC analysis revealed significant AUC values at the 72h (AUC=0.889) and two week (AUC=0.810) time points. Accelerometer-derived measurements may assist in detecting frontal plane control deficits during dual-task walking post-concussion, consistent with camera-based studies. These initial findings demonstrate potential for using accelerometry as a tool for clinicians to monitor gait balance control following concussion.

Language: en