Abstract
Hip abductor proprioception contributes to the control of mediolateral foot placement, which varies with step-by-step fluctuations in pelvis dynamics. While prior work has used hip abductor vibration as a sensory perturbation to investigate this role of hip proprioception, we here tested whether time-varying vibration can predictably manipulate the relationship between pelvis dynamics and foot placement. We compared participants’ (n=32; divided into two groups of 16 with slightly different vibration control) gait behavior across four treadmill walking conditions: 1) No feedback; 2) Random feedback, with vibration unrelated to pelvis motion; 3) Augmented feedback, with vibration designed to evoke proprioceptive feedback paralleling the actual pelvis motion; 4) Disrupted feedback, with vibration designed to evoke proprioceptive feedback inversely related to pelvis motion. We hypothesized that the relationship between pelvis dynamics and foot placement would be strengthened by Augmented feedback but weakened by Disrupted feedback. For both participant groups, the strength of the relationship between pelvis dynamics at the start of a step and foot placement at the end of a step was significantly (p≤0.0002) influenced by the feedback condition. This metric was highest with Augmented feedback, but not significantly reduced with Disrupted feedback, partially supporting our hypotheses. Our approach to augmenting proprioceptive feedback during gait may have implications for clinical populations with a weakened relationship between pelvis motion and foot placement.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
This work was supported in part by a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs (I01 RX003146). The views expressed by the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the VA or the U.S. Government.
All authors are with the College of Health Professions, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425 USA. J. C. Dean (deaje{at}musc.edu) also has an appointment with the Ralph H. Johnson VAMC, Charleston, SC, 29401, USA.