| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 生物醫學工程學系 === 101 === Impaired balance including inability to maintain stability and difficulty in postural transition is challenging in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Ball catching movements are characterized by eye-hand-foot coordination, which are suitable training programs for PD patients. Recent studies have shown the benefits of optical flow to provide the PD subjects with motion perceptions and improve movement performance. The purpose of this study was to develop a 3D virtual reality (VR) training system for providing optical flow information during catching virtual balls under standing and one-step forward movements for subjects with PD. First, inertial motion sensors were attached on bilateral wrist, elbow and waist of subject to record the limb movement and the postural changes. Fifteen PD participants were recruited by the Chi Mei Medical Center. The arm-trunk movement and trunk movement were utilized as the assessment indices of balance and postural control. The derived parameters were compared between baseline data and those with optical flow. Our results showed significantly better arm-trunk coordination (Desynchrony score: -79.2%) and higher similarity of arm symmetry (Correlation coefficient: +9.4%; Matching area: +3.7%). Smoother movement pattern (Normalized Integrated Jerk: -71.9%), greater trunk sway (Elliptical area: +69.1%), and better postural stability index (Inclination angle: +67.2; Maintaining period: +23.7%) were also found during standing task. However, the differences in rotation angle of ellipse between assessments with and without optical flow conditions were not significant. In addition, PD subjects spent substantially less duration prior to gait initiation (Duration of the anticipatory postural adjustments: -30.1%) and achieved greater inclination angle (Inclination angle: +55.8%) on one-step forward task as well. This study indicated that inertial motion sensors with optical flow of VR could improve both arm-trunk control and balance on ball catching performance which has great potential as balance training system as well as assessment tool for PD subjects.
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