Slashdot Mirror
Keeping Balance with Vibrating Shoes
DrLudicrous writes "The NYTimes (free registration) is running an article that summerizes a forthcoming Physical Review Letters article. The article is about how low amplitude vibrations can help a person better sense when they are off balance. The authors write that they improved the balance of senior citizens by using small vibrations in the floor, making their sense of balance like that of a 25 year old. Apparently, this background noise helps to stimulate the neurons in the feet, making them more susceptible to detecting imbalances."
Ivan Pavlov would be proud. :)
So all the BASS played in a club is so a drunk can walk around trying to pick up chicks and still stand!
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
The article is about how low amplitude vibrations can help a person better sense when they are off balance.
I must use this new technology to disrupt Spiderman's Spidey Sense! Bring out the Megalatrogolagolotron!!!
(mutters to self) It must be his weakness.
...I'm standing and can't fall down
making their sense of balance like that of a 25 year old
perhaps they should qualify that with a sober 25 year old...
Researcher 2: *silence*
Researcher 1: This has nothing to do with my blind-the-senior project for better visual acuity project!
Balance of a 25 year old eh? I seem to recall spending a fair amount of time staggering around.
X)
Next time somebody threatens to shove their foot up your ass, it may bring new sensations.
Bad balence be damned! When I am a senior citizen I'll be driving around in one of those cool little cart things. Isn't that the whole reason to even grow old?
Stanley Feinbaum, professional journalist and master debater! God bless the USA!
I didn't realize that growing old was optional! Cool!
So, where do I go to tell them "No"?
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Combining vibrators and old people in the same article, no good can come of this.
-- Any comments seen here are not mine, but a mixture of alchohol and lack of sleep.
What about an entire vibrating suit?
It would be a crying shame if the vision were limited to "vibrating shoes."
Kit out a wetsuit with those buzzing bad boys, and watch the elderly jump, dance, and screw like 25 year olds.
Damm if only i could get the neurons in my feet to learn how do dance! That'd be awesome!
"If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated." - Voltaire
thanks :)
;)
Yes, I'm a superhero. Stumbleboy. My main super power is projectile vomiting.
This space available.
If shaking the floor makes it easier for old people to get around then does this mean that California will become the new retirement playground for senior citizens?
:-)
California, the state where Quake is more than just a game
Oh, I see.
This is just the next version of the iBrator.
Now I've got a picture in my head of dozens of seniors, linked arm in arm, moving helplessly
up and down the aisles at Walmart...
I'm sorry, I cant help it...it's just the way I am.
It's supposed to be completely automatic, but actually you have to press this button.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I can imagine that this technology could be great for young people as well. Especially the nerdy type slashdot crowd.
I know I for one love to play sports and whatnot, but there is this problem of me sucking atrociously. I can run really fast, but coordination is so poor that bad things happen to me at these breakneck speeds. In fact, I can hardly even watch sports with my poor balance (4 or 5 times fallen on the bleachers this season). Shoes like this could add a lot of enjoyment to my fraternities pick up football games. Hey, we could even try intermurals next year! And us engineers would be the only frat nerdy enough to know about it!
N-n-no, darling, they're for your feet.
(Sorry.)
Daddy, why is Grandma sitting on the floor and smiling like that?
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Most old folks I know have no trouble making low-pitched vibrating sounds on thier own.
-- Boycott Shell