Jeffrey M. Haddad - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children are typically described as having a noisy or highly variable motor system. Although random noise in the postural system may be detrimental to the successful completion of other goal directed behaviors, literature in adults has shown that some amount of variability may be functional. Specifically, postural variability can be exploratory, providing information about possibilities for action given current task constraints, and allows the individual to be adaptable in the face of possible perturbations. The role of postural variability and its interaction with manual behaviors at different stages of development is largely unknown. In this project the postural dynamics of children in different age groups will be assessed as manual tasks of varying precision are performed. Additional studies will also be performed where the postural requirements and the visual information provided during the task are manipulated. Results of the proposed research will provide insight into the ability of children of different ages to modulate the dynamics of their postural system as task constraints are manipulated. This ability may be important in normal development, and may help further understand the onset of developmental coordination disorders.

The goal of this research is to study the dynamics of human posture on a balance board with tunable stiffness and time delay and exploit this understanding to improve the early detection of neuromuscular disease and the rehabilitation of balance compromised populations. The research will develop new mathematical models of human posture coupled to an external system and study the emergent dynamics therein; and develop a novel balance board with tunable board rotational stiffness and time delay. This tunable device will be used to assess the potential advantages of bifurcation-based approaches for the early detection of neuromuscular disorder and improved rehabilitation of younger subjects, older subjects and individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), in collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine. In addition an inter-generational service-learning program focused on improving balance will be developed at a local retirement home, a campus wide forum/seminar series on dynamical systems in perception, cognition, and motor control will be created, senior undergraduate students will be mentored in research projects, and the team will reach out to local MS support groups.

The development of the tunable balance board could be a major improvement in rehabilitative devices as it can manipulate and thus, explore the contribution of muscle stiffness and time delay to balance. If successful the idea of using bifurcation thresholds on the tunable balance boards as a means of indicating early stage neuromuscular disease could lead to early diagnosis of fall-propensity in frail older adults and adults with MS, Parkinson?s disease or persons suffering from traumatic brain injury. New detection and training concepts using these tunable balance boards delay could eventually be commercialized and improve quality of life of balance-compromised individuals. In addition, the substantial economic cost associated with falls, valued at over $19 billion in direct medical costs in 2000, may be reduced.