A new technique might be used to diagnose neuromuscular disorders such as multiple sclerosis or impairment from concussions by detecting and measuring subtle oscillations in a person's standing posture.
The approach detects and measures "limit cycle oscillations," or the tendency of a system to become unstable despite corrective efforts. In human standing posture, these LCOs are manifested by a person swaying because of excessive time-delay in neuromuscular response, which indicates impairment, said Arvind Raman, Robert V. Adams Professor of Mechanical Engineering and by courtesy a professor of materials engineering.
"The clinical application is especially promising as the assessment takes less than five minutes, requires standard balance equipment and does not require a medical doctor to perform," he said.
"The multiple sclerosis patients had mild symptoms, and yet we were able to measure a significant difference compared to healthy controls," said James R. Chagdes, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Miami University and lead author of a paper about the research published online on March 24 in the Journal of Biomechanics.
Findings showed 67 percent of people with multiple sclerosis exhibited intermittent LCOs, compared to 8 percent for controls; 44 percent of concussed athletes exhibited the LCOs, compared to zero percent for controls. Of the concussed athletes, one still exhibited LCOs after returning to play, suggesting he still had impairment.
Full story: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/relea...disorders.html
Note: I was working with a chiropractor that zeroed in on my swaying. He worked with me on trying to correct the problem with odd strategies. Maybe he just moved from crack pot to trailblazer.
The approach detects and measures "limit cycle oscillations," or the tendency of a system to become unstable despite corrective efforts. In human standing posture, these LCOs are manifested by a person swaying because of excessive time-delay in neuromuscular response, which indicates impairment, said Arvind Raman, Robert V. Adams Professor of Mechanical Engineering and by courtesy a professor of materials engineering.
"The clinical application is especially promising as the assessment takes less than five minutes, requires standard balance equipment and does not require a medical doctor to perform," he said.
"The multiple sclerosis patients had mild symptoms, and yet we were able to measure a significant difference compared to healthy controls," said James R. Chagdes, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Miami University and lead author of a paper about the research published online on March 24 in the Journal of Biomechanics.
Findings showed 67 percent of people with multiple sclerosis exhibited intermittent LCOs, compared to 8 percent for controls; 44 percent of concussed athletes exhibited the LCOs, compared to zero percent for controls. Of the concussed athletes, one still exhibited LCOs after returning to play, suggesting he still had impairment.
Full story: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/relea...disorders.html
Note: I was working with a chiropractor that zeroed in on my swaying. He worked with me on trying to correct the problem with odd strategies. Maybe he just moved from crack pot to trailblazer.
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