Treadmill-based system for postural studies: Design and validation.

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Human Movement Science
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Computer-controlled treadmills are valuable for gait research, but manual control of brief postural disturbances is challenging.
• Existing treadmill software may not precisely control the timing and magnitude of brief perturbations.
• Accurate and repeatable postural disturbances are crucial for perturbation-based studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel system combining a split-belt treadmill with custom hardware and software for delivering controlled postural disturbances.
• To simultaneously record kinematic, electromyographic, and force data during these perturbations.
• To assess the accuracy and repeatability of treadmill-delivered perturbations.

Main Methods:

• A Bertec® split-belt treadmill was integrated with custom hardware and software.
• 15 healthy participants underwent an 8-session perturbation-based training protocol.
• Motion capture analyzed perturbation characteristics (duration, displacement, peak velocity) against software commands.
• Kinematic, electromyographic, and force data were collected.

Main Results:

• Perturbation durations were as expected based on software commands.
• Peak velocities and displacements were slightly higher than expected (0.59 cm/s and 1.76 cm increases, respectively).
• These consistent increases did not hinder training or data analysis.
• Treadmill behavior demonstrated 95% repeatability across trials.

Conclusions:

• The custom system effectively delivers repeatable postural disturbances for gait and postural studies.
• The system allows simultaneous multi-modal data collection during controlled perturbations.
• This technology facilitates perturbation-based training and research in human movement science.