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Abstract:
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Impairments in the postural control system have forced many researchers to understand the multifaceted working relationship among the musculoskeletal, sensory, and central nervous system. Such impairments are often more of a concern for patients with Parkinson's disease, who may experience deficits in postural control. Postural stability (PS) is needed to keep the body steady during quiet standing, reactive postural adjustments to external perturbations, anticipatory postural adjustments in preparation for voluntary movements, and in gait. PS is achieved by regulating balance in the medial-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) directions. To study individual's ability to control their balance accelerometers are used to quantify trunk movements in ML and AP directions during stance and gait tests. In this case-controlled research, we study the balance dynamics of subjects based on performances on the balance test. Biomechanical data were collected by the Apple iPad's accelerometer in the ML and AP directions. Extensive time series analysis presented in this paper reveals several features of the accelerations to recognize the distinguishable features of the balance dynamics.
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