Assessment of an audio-visual feedback device used in motor training,

A miniature biofeedback device, the Basmajian-Emory Muscle Trainer, has been developed at the Emory University School of Medicine. A training and testing protocol was designed for using this device in the training of precise voluntary control of individual skeletal muscles. Thirteen normal subjects were trained to abduct the big toe of the right foot, eleven of whom displayed increases in maximum motion. Use of a biofeedback device to improve a subject's ROM capabilities requires consideration of four factors: (1) initial emphasis must be on making the subject aware of his muscle activity, (2) the muscle activity must be increased, (3) the positive re-enforcement of feedback must be continual, and (4) the newly acquired muscle activity must be used to perform a greattting.