Tag: Li-Shan Chou

Measuring Gate Stability With A Wearable Acceleromenter In Female Club Lacrosse Athletes

Presenter(s): Haley Segelke − Human Physiology

Faculty Mentor(s): Li-Shan Chou

Poster 29

Research Area: Science

Funding: UROP Mini-Grant

Current post-concussion return to play criteria are based on metrics which normalize within 1-2 weeks, however recent research has demonstrated gait-stability deficits in acutely concussed athletes may persist for up to two months post-injury. As such, concussed individuals who return to play within two weeks have a greater risk for re-injury. The purpose of this study was to analyze gait stability in female lacrosse players utilizing a novel accelerometer-based, dual-task gait stability assessment as well as establish the assessment’s clinical feasibility. Nine players from the university club team underwent individual assessments. A wearable accelerometer was placed on L-5 on the subject’s back. Subjects performed a simple walking task at a self-selected pace on an eight-meter path, turned around, and returned to the start position. The walking task was performed under three conditions: normal walking, dual-task walking with auditory Stroop, and dual-task walking with a question and answer test. Raw acceleration data from three orthogonal axes was downloaded for processing. The average testing time was 9:21 minutes ± 57 seconds. This short testing time reflects clinical feasibility when compared to other concussion management assessments, such as the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (IMPACT) procedure takes 25 minutes to complete and the Sort Concussion athletic tool (SCAT5), which cannot be performed in under 10 minutes. Analysis of center of mass kinematic data is ongoing, however early trends support the notion that gait stability in an uninjured, healthy athletic cohort is comparable to laboratory assessments of healthy non-athletes.

Gait Stability Deficiencies In Veterans With Chronic mTBI

Presenter(s): Ravahn Enayati − Human Physiology

Faculty Mentor(s): Li-Shan Chou, Will Pitt

Poster 28

Research Area: Physical Science

While mTBI, or concussion, is typically associated with athletics, head trauma is widespread in the battlefield and combat training, as evidenced by 294,010 documented cases of mTBI in the Department of Defense between 2000 and 2016. It has been shown that veteran subjects with chronic mTBI continue to suffer from subjective symptoms. It is reasonable to believe they may also continue to exhibit impairment in their gait stability when tested under a dual-task condition. Eight veteran subjects diagnosed with chronic mTBI (1F; 32.3 6.5 years old) had their gait imbalance tested. Each subject walked barefoot in two conditions. The first condition involved each veteran providing their undivided attention toward their movements (single- task). The second condition had each subject concurrently completing a continuous auditory Stroop test, which consisted of the individual listening to different auditory stimuli and attempting to correctly identify the pitch (dual-task). A camera motion analysis system was used to collect imaging of each subject’s movements during both conditions. The results were then compared with those of an acutely concussed group of athletes which had a statistically significant gait deficit. The one-time test of the veteran group was compared with five different time points from the acute sample. The results found that in the dual-task condition, there was no statistically significant difference between the medial-lateral sway of the chronic veterans and the acutely concussed athletes. This indicates that the veterans that suffer from chronic mTBI suffer similar gait imbalance as the acutely concussed athletes.

Gait Stability Deficiencies in Healthy Veterans and Veterans with Chronic Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Presenter(s): Ravahn Enayati

Faculty Mentor(s): Li-Shan Chou & Will Pitt

Poster 13

Session: Sciences

While mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, is typically associated with athletics, head trauma is widespread in the battlefield and combat training, as evidenced by 294,010 documented cases of mTBI in the Department of Defense between 2000 and 2016. It has been shown that veteran subjects with chronic mTBI continue to suffer from subjective symptoms. It is reasonable to believe they may also continue to exhibit impairment in their gait stability when tested under a dual-task condition. Eight healthy veterans (1F; 33.93.8) and eight veteran subjects diagnosed with chronic mTBI (1F; 32.36.5 years old) had their gait imbalance tested. Each subject walked barefoot in two conditions. The first condition involved each veteran providing their undivided attention toward their movements (single-task). The second condition had each subject concurrently completing a continuous auditory Stroop test, which consisted of the individual listening to different auditory stimuli and attempting to correctly identify the pitch (dual-task). A camera motion analysis system was used to collect imaging of each subject’s movements during both conditions. A significant difference was found in medial-lateral displacement (p=0.007) and in the interaction effect of group and condition for peak medial- lateral velocity (p = 0.012). These results indicate that the veterans that suffer from chronic mTBI suffer from certain gait imbalances compared to a control veteran cohort. This information can be used to understand the physiological effects of chronic mTBI and to develop policy for the protection of mental health of military personnel.