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As life expectancy continually rises, many age-related conditions such as deteriorated gait and decreased stability begin to play a larger role in affecting the quality of life for all individuals. Medical expenses associated with falls in the elderly population surpassed $50 Billion in 2015 alone. Understanding fall risk and developing robust metrics and methods of assessment has become more important than ever. While traditional fall risk has looked at classical gait parameters, dynamic stability has gained traction as a more accurate representation of stability during active movement and daily activities. This project seeks to determine the effects on the internal perturbation of gait velocity on dynamic stability represented by the Maximal Lyapunov Exponent (MLE) of multiple acceleration vectors, as well as the efficacy of varying methodology used to assess dynamic stability. Data from 15 healthy, college aged individuals was collected. Significant differences were shown between certain gait velocity trials for one analysis of the three methods explored, while overall trends suggested potential differences between gait velocities with other methodologies warranting further investigation.
ContributorsKreisler, Itai Goeta (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Rezvanian, Saba (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Gait training therapies are methods for improving the walking stability of individuals who have difficulty walking, whether it is due to injury or neuromuscular conditions. Perturbation training that causes individuals to correct their balance and actively improve their stability could potentially lead to longer term benefits for those with unstable gait. Subjects had the medial lateral movement of their center of mass measured through motion-tracking software (D-Flow 3 and Vicon Nexus 2.2). Perturbation training completed with the GRAIL treadmill randomly triggered medial-lateral sway perturbations of 3 cm a total of fifteen times throughout a five minute training period. Data collected to compare baseline, post-training, and one week follow-up dynamic stabilities were recorded over three minutes without any perturbations. There were no statistically significant differences when comparing the results of all subjects at each instance of data collection with each other. Thus, the perturbation training had no significant impact on the dynamic stability of gait. Major limitations that lend to the inconclusive nature of this study include a small sample size, no repetitions, and only one round of training. Further work can be done to better assess the potential impacts of perturbation training on walking stability for therapeutic use.
ContributorsJamali, Neema (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Soangra, Rahul (Committee member) / School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Military personnel are affected by muscle fatigue during the various missions and training regimens for their work. Muscle fatigue is caused by the overuse and lack of nutrients to muscles. When a soldier is fatigued, they are unable to perform at their maximum potential and are also more susceptible to injury. For military personnel to save time and money as well as become more efficient within the missions they deploy soldiers, muscle fatigue should be predicted. Predicting fatigue will allow for a reduced rate of negative exercise-related impacts. This means that soldiers will be able to avoid potential life threatening situations they encounter due to the muscle fatigue. The newest technology in wearable devices includes clothing that incorporates heart rate monitors, breathing rate and breathing depth sensors, and a database that converts this information into the amount of calories burned during a workout. Fatigue can be tracked and predicted in the military using wearable clothing with activity sensors, preventing further injury to the soldiers and optimizing performance output at all times. For military personnel, the ability to predict fatigue using this technology would be beneficial to the soldiers and the military as a whole.
ContributorsFalk, Brady Thomas (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Williams, Deborah (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Current sideline concussion assessment tools are inaccurate and biased leading to undiagnosed concussions and possibly a second, more severe concussion. This study evaluated the effects of different surface types on postural stability using the Lockhart Monitor iPhone application in order to validate its potential use as a data-driven sideline concussion assessment tool. Participants had three components of their postural sway recorded in 30 and 60-second trials on three different surface types, tile, turf, and natural grass, with eyes open and closed. The statistical analysis found that there was a significant difference between surface types for the sway area (p = 0.0268), but there was no difference for the sway path and velocity. These results call for further research to be conducted on the impact of surface types and the use of the Lockhart Monitor as a sideline concussion assessment tool with larger sample sizes and improved methodologies.
ContributorsDeacon, Kyle (Author) / McDonald, Mark (Co-author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Current sideline concussion assessment tools are inaccurate and biased leading to undiagnosed concussions and possibly a second, more severe concussion. This study evaluated the effects of different surface types on postural stability using the Lockhart Monitor iPhone application in order to validate its potential use as a data-driven sideline concussion assessment tool. Participants had three components of their postural sway recorded in 30 and 60-second trials on three different surface types, tile, turf, and natural grass, with eyes open and closed. The statistical analysis found that there was a significant difference between surface types for the sway area (p = 0.0268), but there was no difference for the sway path and velocity. These results call for further research to be conducted on the impact of surface types and the use of the Lockhart Monitor as a sideline concussion assessment tool with larger sample sizes and improved methodologies.
ContributorsMcDonald, Mark (Author) / Deacon, Kyle (Co-author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Human walking is a complex and rhythmical activity that comprises of the brain, nerves and muscles. Neuromuscular disorder (NMD) is a broad term that refers to conditions that affect the proper use of muscles and nervous system, thus also impairing the walking or gait cycle of an individual. The improper gait cycle might be attributed to the lack of force produced at the toe-off stage. This project addresses if it is possible to create an OpenSim model to find the ideal time and force magnitude needed of an assistive force ankle device to improve gait patterns in individuals with NMD.
ContributorsRivera, Jose Luis (Author) / Zhang, Wenlong (Thesis director) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Over the past 30 years the use of graphene has been increasing at a rapid rate. The reason why graphene has become more popular is because it is starting to be understood better, and researchers are starting to recognize graphene’s unique properties. Graphene is a single atomic layer of graphite, and graphite is a three-dimensional cube base structure of carbon. Graphite has a high conductivity rate, and graphene has an even higher conductivity, meaning that graphene makes for an excellent resistor in any hardware system. Graphene is flexible, has high durability, and can vary in resistance based on its shape (Sharon 2015). With graphene being able to change its resistivity, it can act as different types of sensors. These sensors include measuring pressure, resistance, force, strain, and angle. One problem across the globe is that patients have arthritis, decaying bone density, and injuries which can easily go mistreated or not treated at all. It can be hard to determine the severity of injuries in joints by observation of the patient. There are tools and equipment that will allow a doctor to track the force and degrees of motion of certain joints, but they are mostly limited to hospitals. With graphene acting as a sensor it can be embedded into casts, braces, and even clothing. With a mobile sensor that relays accurate and continuous data to a doctor they can more precisely determine a therapy or recovery time that will better suit the patients’ needs. In this project the graphene was used to measure the angle of a patient’s wrist while they were wearing a wrist brace. From the data collected, the graphene was able to track the user’s movement of their wrist as they moved it in a single direction. The data showed the angle of the wrist ranging from zero degrees to 90 degrees. This proves that graphene can shape the way biosensing is accomplished. Biodynamics is a growing field, and with more injuries everyday it is important to study graphene and how it can be used to diagnose and prevent injuries related to joints. Graphene can be used as a biosensor which can then be implemented into a brace to allow for accurate biodynamic tracking.
ContributorsSweeten, William (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Helms Tillery, Stephen (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05