The Effect of Gaitlike Plantar Stimulation During Walking
Authors: Engsberg Christopher , Engsberg Christopher , Rains Alexia , Sado Takashi , Wang Yingying , Barlow Steven , Mukherjee Mukul 
Published: May 2023

The plantar surfaces of the feet are a vital source of information for balance and locomotion control. They use the location of the center of pressure (CoP) to aid in the control of standing and walking balance. However, during gait this CoP traverses along the foot from the heel to the toe. Stimulating the plantar surfaces in a manner that can positively affect the perception of this CoP movement could increase balance control during walking tasks in the presence of plantar sensory deficits. In individuals with such deficits, applying vibro-tactile stimulation to increase this CoP movement perception may lead to enhanced relearning of balance during gait. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different patterns of vibro-tactile stimulation on balance control during different walking tasks in healthy subjects. We hypothesized that vibro-tactile stimulation in an abnormal pattern will result in gait and balance deficits, when compared to stimulation that follows a natural walking pattern. Additionally, that walking on an inclined surface would exaggerate the effects of these stimulation patterns. In this on-going study we tested three stimulation patterns at three different inclines (0, 5, and 10-degrees) of treadmill walking. These patterns included no stimulation (NS), a gait-like stimulation (GS), and a reverse gait-like stimulation (RGS). Minimal differences from these patterns were observed in spatiotemporal measures (<2% from NS in step time and length; <5% from NS in step width) at each incline. However, RGS compared to NS led to ~ 30% decrease in foot placement distribution during level and 5-degrees of incline. The GS pattern however remained similar to regular walking at both 0 and 5-degrees of incline (both ~5%). These foot placement effects did not lead to decreases in stability when measured with margin of stability changes. Stimulating the plantar surfaces in different patterns, therefore, alters how the body uses plantar afferents during gait through the control of foot placements. Stimulation in the regular sequence (GS) is important for maintaining natural foot placement during level walking and small inclines while disrupted tactile patterns (RGS) can restrict such natural locomotion. Currently ongoing brain imaging studies are expected to provide in-depth understanding of how such regular walking patterns influence sensorimotor organization and control.

This project was supported by grants from NASA and AHA. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NASA or AHA. In addition, funding was provided by the Graduate Research and Creative Activity fund (GRACA) and Fund for Undergraduate Scholarly experience (FUSE) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.