@article{ref1,
title="Baseline-dependent effect of noise-enhanced insoles on gait variability in healthy elderly walkers",
journal="Gait and posture",
year="2012",
author="Stephen, Damian G. and Wilcox, Bethany J. and Niemi, James B. and Franz, Jason and Casey Kerrigan, D. and D'Andrea, Susan E.",
volume="36",
number="3",
pages="537-540",
abstract="The purpose of this study was to determine whether providing subsensory stochastic-resonance mechanical vibration to the foot soles of elderly walkers could decrease gait variability. In a randomized double-blind controlled trial, 29 subjects engaged in treadmill walking while wearing sandals customized with three actuators capable of producing stochastic-resonance mechanical vibration embedded in each sole. For each subject, we determined a subsensory level of vibration stimulation. After a 5-min acclimation period of walking with the footwear, subjects were asked to walk on the treadmill for six trials, each 30s long. Trials were pair-wise random: in three trials, actuators provided subsensory vibration; in the other trials, they did not. Subjects wore reflective markers to track body motion. Stochastic-resonance mechanical stimulation exhibited baseline-dependent effects on spatial stride-to-stride variability in gait, slightly increasing variability in subjects with least baseline variability and providing greater reductions in variability for subjects with greater baseline variability (p<.001). Thus, applying stochastic-resonance mechanical vibrations on the plantar surface of the foot reduces gait variability for subjects with more variable gait. Stochastic-resonance mechanical vibrations may provide an effective intervention for preventing falls in healthy elderly walkers.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0966-6362",
doi="10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.05.014",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.05.014"
}