소뇌성 운동실조증 환자의 후방 낙상 시 운동학적 특성

Abstract

Falling occurs very frequently in patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA) and these falls are serious and often lead to injuries or a fear of falling. Therefore, fall prevention is essential for cerebellar patients. Effective compensatory stepping is important for preventing falls in patients with CA. The purpose of the present study was to examine the kinematic characteristics on compensatory stepping responses to recover balance comparing patients with CA and normal controls. A total of 22 individuals with CA and 10 age-matched normal controls participated in the study. We used a “lean-and-release” balance perturbation method to evaluate the balance recovery responses. The results indicated that cerebellar patients took longer to recover their body stability than normal controls. In the case of the first foot response, the reaction time of the patients was similar to that of the normal subjects, but they raised their feet higher. The range of movement of the body center of gravity was significantly larger than that of the normal controls during recovering their balance. In addition, patients with cerebellar disease exhibited a tendency to use multiple step, widened base of support, and inefficient first step movement strategies that make them to take more steps and move farther away during a posterior fall. This study reports the specific characteristic of stepping responses that can be utilized with effective rehabilitation program for cerebellar patients.