ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0043-8817
Current Organisations
KU Leuven
,
LUC
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2015
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 09-2015
Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to deficits in gait and posture, which are often asymmetric. A possible factor mediating these deficits may be asymmetry in strength of the leg muscles. However, muscle strength in the lower extremities has rarely been investigated in (young) TBI patients. Here, we investigated associations between lower-extremity muscle weakness, strength asymmetry, and impairments in gait and posture in young TBI patients. A group of young patients with moderate-to-severe TBI (n=19 age, 14 years 11 months ±2 years) and a group of typically developing subjects (n=31 age, 14 years 1 month±3 years) participated in this study. A force platform was used to measure postural sway to quantify balance control during normal standing and during conditions of compromised visual and/or somatosensory feedback. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were assessed during comfortable and fast-speed walking, using an electronic walkway. Muscle strength in four lower-extremity muscle groups was measured bilaterally using a handheld dynamometer. Findings revealed that TBI patients had poorer postural balance scores across all sensory conditions, as compared to typically developing subjects. During comfortable and fast gait, TBI patients demonstrated a lower gait velocity, longer double-support phase, and increased step-length asymmetry. Further, TBI patients had a reduced strength of leg muscles and an increased strength asymmetry. Correlation analyses revealed that asymmetry in muscle strength was predictive of a poorer balance control and a more variable and asymmetric gait. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to measure strength asymmetry in leg muscles of a s le of TBI patients and illustrate the importance of muscular asymmetry as a potential marker and possible risk factor of impairments in control of posture and gait.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-12-2012
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 03-2017
Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often leads to impairments in gait performance. However, the underlying neurostructural pathology of these gait deficits is poorly understood. We aimed to investigate regional gray matter (GM) volume in young moderate-to-severe TBI participants (n = 19 age 13 years 11 months ±3 years 1 month), compared with typically developing (TD) participants (n = 30 14 years 10 months ±2 years 2 months), and assess whether reduced volume was related to impaired gait performance in TBI participants. Cortical and subcortical GM structures involved in the neural control of gait were selected as regions of interest (ROIs) and their volume was extracted using Freesurfer. Moreover, established spatiotemporal markers of gait impairments in TBI participants, including step length asymmetry, step length variability, and double support time, were obtained using an electronic walkway. Compared with TD participants, TBI participants showed increased double support time, step length asymmetry, and step length variability, suggesting a reduced gait control. Secondly, in TBI participants, reduced volumes were demonstrated in overall subcortical GM and in idual subcortical ROIs, including the hippoc us, cerebellar cortex, putamen, and thalamus. Moreover, in the TBI group, volume losses in subcortical ROIs were highly inter-correlated, indicating that atrophy tends to occur in combined subcortical structures. Finally, it was demonstrated, for the first time, that gait abnormalities in TBI subjects were associated with reduced volume in specific GM structures, including the hippoc us, thalamus, and the cerebellar, superior frontal, paracentral, posterior cingulate, and superior parietal cortices. The present study is an important first step in the understanding of the neurostructural pathology underlying impaired gait in TBI patients.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-10-2015
DOI: 10.1002/HBM.22958
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2003
DOI: 10.1016/J.HUMOV.2003.09.006
Abstract: Thirty-two children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and learning disabilities (LD) and their age-matched controls attending normal primary schools were investigated using kinematic movement analysis of fine-motor performance. Three hypotheses about the nature of the motor deficits observed in children with LD were tested: general slowness hypothesis, limited information capacity hypothesis, and the motor control mode hypothesis. Measures of drawing movements were analyzed under different task conditions using a Fitts' paradigm. In a reciprocal aiming task, the children drew straight-line segments between two targets 2.5 cm apart. Three Target Sizes were used (0.22, 0.44, and 0.88 cm). Children used an electronic pen that left no trace on the writing tablet. To manipulate the degree of open-loop movement control, the aiming task was performed under two different control regimes: discrete aiming and cyclic aiming. The kinematic analysis of the writing movements of the 32 children with DCD/LD that took part in the experimental study confirmed that besides learning disabilities they have a motor learning problem as well. Overall, the two groups did not differ in response time, nor did they respond differently according to Fitts' Law. Both groups displayed a conventional trade-off between Target Size and average Movement Time. However, while movement errors for children with DCD/LD were minimal on the discrete task, they made significantly more errors on the cyclic task. This, together with faster endpoint velocities, suggests a reduced ability to use a control strategy that emphasizes the terminal control of accuracy. Taken together, the results suggest that children with DCD/LD rely more on feedback during movement execution and have difficulty switching to a feedforward or open-loop strategy.
No related grants have been discovered for Jacques Duysens.