title: A measure of kinematic limb instability modulation by rhythmic auditory stimulation.
abstract: A mathematical method based on computations of residual absolute value sums (RAVS) was developed for the quantitative analysis of tremor-like perturbations of knee angle during the gait cycle. The method was tested on simulation data created by adding sinusoidal tremor of varying frequency and amplitude to the knee-angle graph of a healthy test subject. The method was then applied to compare knee tremor reduction, with and without auditory rhythm, in a group of five traumatically brain-injured patients with gait hemiparesis. Deviations from normal gait performance due to tremor were assessed by using self-comparison to a 17th-degree regression polynomial of each subject's own motion-, time-, and point-normalized knee- angle curve. With rhythmic cueing, the five subjects had a statistically significant RAVS-measured mean tremor reduction of 39.5+/-22.6% (t=-3.91; p=0.017).
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Colorado State University, Center for Research in NeuroRehabilitation, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Kenyon
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Thaut
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010507:Periodicity; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014202:Tremor / Q000503:physiopathology*