ProprIntTex

Therapieweste zur Sturzprophylaxe durch Steigerung der Tiefensensibilität (Propriozeption)

01/10/2018 to 30/09/2020

The sensitivity of the senses deteriorates in humans with increasing age. Among all different senses also proprioception, i. e. the sensitivity for bodily signals providing information about the posture of limbs, degrades. Since proprioception is needed for motor control of standing and gait the loss of proprioceptive sensitivity is one reason for falling of elderly people. In the project “ProprInTex” the sensitivity of Proprioception will be trained in elderly subjects through Intelligent Textiles. In the project a vest will be developed that can exert pressure, tension and vibrations in order to stimulate subjects’ proprioceptive system. Behavioural effects of the training and training-induce changes of the neuronal processing will be studied in an EEG examination which will take place before and after the training. In the examination, participants walk on a treadmill whose speed will change randomly every 10 to 20 seconds. Faster and better coordinated motor reactions as well as changes in neuronal processing following changes of the speed of the treadmill will be used to characterize the success of the training.