Timothy A Hanke

BACKGROUND: Balance dysfunction related to lateral instability has been associated with falls and fall-related injuries among older individuals. Protective stepping for dynamic balance recovery requires the effective control of lateral body motion. This study investigated the relationship between aging, falls, and lateral stability during forward-induced stepping for dynamic balance recovery.

METHODS: Forward steps were induced by a motor-driven waist-pull system in 12 younger adults, 20 ...

The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the frequency of protective stepping for balance recovery in subjects of different ages and fall-status, and (2) to compare predicted stepping based on a dynamic model (Pai and Patton, 1997. Journal of Biomechanics 30, 347 354) involving displacement and velocity combinations of the center of mass (COM) versus a static model based on displacement alone against experimentally induced stepping. Responses to three different magnitudes of ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influence of different reaction stimulus cues on the characteristics of ground reaction forces during the initiation of rapid forward stepping, and to determine whether age-related differences in step initiation are influenced by the type of stimulus cue used to trigger stepping.

DESIGN: Case-control study.

SETTING: University-based research laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen healthy younger adults and 35 community-dwelling older adult volunteers.

MAIN ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of feedback information about base of support in gait rehabilitation. Sixteen individuals with hemiparesis resulting in narrow base of support, were randomly placed into two equal groups, experimental and control. The experimental group was provided with a portable device that provided extrinsic auditory feedback information about base of support incorporated in the functional context of conventional gait therapy, whereas the ...

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypotheses that the incidence of protective stepping in response to sudden translations of the support would (1) increase as a function of both the magnitude of surface displacement and velocity of platform movement, and (2) decrease in association with an increase in external loading applied to the body.

DESIGN: A log-linear approach was used to analyze the incidence of stepping by testing several models incorporating different platform stimulus parameters ...

The purpose of this study was to examine muscle activation patterns during standing leg single leg flexion in adults with hemiparesis. Specifically, the electromyographic activation patterns of the flexing limb biceps femoris and gluteus medius, and the stance limb gluteus medius muscles were analyzed as a function of whether the muscles were paretic or not. Delayed activation of the affected flexing side gluteus medius, as compared with unaffected flexing side gluteus medius, resulted ...