Perturbation recovery during walking is impacted by knowledge of perturbation timing in below-knee prosthesis users and non-impaired participants

Matthew J. Major*, Chelsi K. Serba, Keith E. Gordon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous research found that below-knee prosthesis users proactively increase their lateral margin-of-stability on their impaired side in anticipation of an impending perturbation when the timing is predictable and potentially directed toward the impaired limb. While knowledge of perturbation timing and direction influences proactive strategies, the consequences of such knowledge and anticipatory behavior on recovery from perturbations is unclear. This study characterized center-of-mass (CoM) dynamics of below-knee prosthesis users and non-impaired controls following a lateral perturbation when the perturbation direction is known but a priori knowledge of the timing of perturbation is either known or unknown. Across groups, CoM displacement during perturbation exposure increased when directed towards the impaired or non-dominant limb with no influence of timing knowledge. In addition, peak CoM displacement was less with known timing irrespective of the perturbation direction. Generally, the CoM displacement during perturbation exposure correlated well with the CoM medial-lateral velocity during unperturbed walking, supporting evidence that human response dynamics to lateral perturbations are influenced by the instantaneous state of the body's momentum.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere0235686
JournalPloS one
Volume15
Issue number7 July
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2020

Funding

The work was supported by the Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Assistant Program #999URAP137320 (awarded to MM, KG), NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences #UL1TR001422 (awarded to KG), and the US Department of Veterans Affairs #1 IK2 RX001322-01 (awarded to MM), #1 IK2 RX000717-01(awarded to KG) and # I01RX001979 (awarded to KG). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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