Postural Sway - Platform & Force Plate
Injury of a sensory or motor systems can often affect a human postural response to external disturbances. The postural responses to external disturbances are often determined by medical expert qualitatively. Alternatively, these responses and external disturbances can be measured and analyzed by using a machine. In commercial systems, a tilting motion in anterior/posterior direction is given as a disturbance. The response sway is measured using force plate to measure center of pressure of the subject.
In this research, the authors developed a new system to investigate two-directional postural control. The moving platform can translate in both directions in the horizontal plane. A force plate is installed on the moving platform to measure center of pressure in response to the platform motion. This system has advantages over the former in determining subject's postural control ability in both anterior/posterior and medial/lateral directions. The system can provide a circular motion of the platform, which allows the spatial frequency responses to be measured and analyzed. In addition, the system has a program for training patients who have motor or sensory impairs. In this paper, the authors present the development of such system and some clinical preliminary results.
Force plate
Perturbation platform
