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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."
The inner ear helps keep you HEAD straight, with the fact that anyplace your head goes your body is likely to be not far behind... inner ear problems effect balance because the brain is trying to compensate for movements that aren't really happening.
Sensations from the feet are required to make sure they stay *under* you, thus helping to keep your head straight as well.
=Smidge=
There are a lot of things that effect balance.
I have Meniere's disease - my vestibular system is faulty... I also have Nystagmus, involuntary eye movement... that causes balance problems.
I also have reduced peripheral vision in various color ranges. The net result of all of this is that I can walk into a supermarket and the visual field of the aisles, combined with the lighting can send me into a sudden vertigo attack.
I use my sense of proprioception (body position, etc) to help my balance.
One of the important parts of therapy to try to deal with this involves having you stand on pillows, etc, to get used to balancing, as the proprioceptive signals from your feet are crucial to your overall sense of body position.
Other things like head and arm position also have major effects.
So many things come into play that you never think about until you lose one of the components of balance... then you notice all of the others. It's a big adjustment.
This space available.
Yes, I read the NewScientist Article also. It seems that the random noise signal coming from the vibrating feet ocassionally makes the signals from the foot to the brain large enough to overcome a threshold they were not able to overcome without the noise. Since these signals are used for balance, this makes better balance possible.
Nothing new or magical in the theory, but it is a really cool application. Kudos to the researchers.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Erm.... I don't know where you learnt your sensory neurophysiology...
Light hitting the back of the eye causes (in the roughest possible terms) a change in electrical potential in the light sensitive cells, which is transmitted down neurons in the optic nerve (as electrical pulses) into the visual cortex of the brain, where it's interpreted in exceptionally clever ways we don't really understand. No vibrations to be seen, though.
I could sure use some smart shoes or white-noise socks, my sense of balance is destroyed. I had an acoustic neuroma, when they remove it they cut your vestibular nerve in one ear, otherwise you have permanent vertigo. The best way I can explain it, is that my sense of balance is now mono instead of stereo. My doctor said there are three components to balance, pressure feedback through the skin, position feedback from the body and skeleton, and visual feedback. The doc said my sense of balance is now "visually dependent" so I have to be able to see clearly or I can lose my balance. When it's dark or the footing is rough or loose gravel, I stumble around like I'm drunk. This is horribly embarrasing, but more than that, it's a health risk. I took one balance test and barely passed, and I asked what it measured, the physiotherapist said it is to determine if you should use a cane or a walker. Poor scores meant a dramatically higher likelihood of broken arms, legs, and hips from falls, and subsequently, greater mortality.
Vertigo, for anyone who has never had it, is usualy an inner ear problem, which can leave you off balance and dizzy for days on end. The dizzyness can range from a slight light headedness to virtual blindness (like when you stand up too fast, and you get dizzy and your sight goes black for a few seconds.). On many ocasions it has caused me to black out completely.
Thankfully this only happens 3 or 4 times a year, though it has lasted for more than 3 weeks once. My usual year involves two minor occurences (I can still function, but I try not to drive myself just to be safe), and one short, but intence occurence, (usualy so bad I can't stand to get out of bed) that lasts a day or so.
--Forest C. Adcock--