Cortical reactive balance responses to unexpected slippages while walking: a pilot study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomechanics
• Human Motor Control

Background:

• Understanding cortical responses to balance perturbations is crucial for developing fall prevention strategies.
• Current methods for assessing balance recovery may not capture early cortical adaptations.
• The human brain cortex plays a key role in maintaining dynamic balance during locomotion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel methodological approach for early detection of scalp-level electroencephalographic (EEG) signal modifications during perturbed walking.
• To assess cortical activity changes in response to unexpected balance challenges using EEG and electromyography (EMG).
• To investigate the potential of EEG-based monitoring for assessing fall risk during daily activities.

Main Methods:

• Synchronous recording of lower limb kinematics, EMG, and 13-channel EEG signals in four young adults.
• Unexpected bilateral slippages were introduced during steady walking.
• EEG power spectrum density variation rate (m) was analyzed in five frequency bands (ϑ, α, β I, β II, β III) triggered by EMG signals.

Main Results:

• A significant increment in the EEG power spectrum density variation rate (m) was observed early after perturbation onset (perturbed step) across all analyzed rhythms.
• This heightened cortical activity diminished during the recovery step.
• The proposed method successfully distinguished between steady walking and early reactive balance recovery.

Conclusions:

• The developed methodological approach effectively detects early cortical changes associated with reactive balance recovery.
• This EEG-based method shows promise for real-time monitoring of fall risk during everyday activities.
• Further research can build upon this approach for advanced fall prevention strategies.