Triaxial Acceleration Evaluation of Trunk Sway while Putting on a Shirt

Background: For hemiplegia patients after a stroke, the physical and higher brain functions involved in an independent dressing activity prove difficult. Above all functions, it is important for patients to obtain adequate... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
For hemiplegia patients after a stroke, the physical and higher brain functions involved in an independent dressing activity prove difficult. Above all functions, it is important for patients to obtain adequate trunk stability to sit safety. In recent studies, the triaxial acceleration meter was used to analyze the pelvic sway during gaiting. They showed that there was significant correlation between the measured items on a gravicorder and by triaxial acceleration. The purpose of this study was to investigate trunk sway using the triaxial acceleration meter while getting dressed in a sitting position.
Method:
Informed consent was gained from 20 healthy, right-handed volunteers. We put the triaxial acceleration meter at the intersection of Jacobi with spinal column. We set the two conditions, normal sitting and unbalanced sitting, which was half unfixed from the seat of a chair and set the balloon under the right sole. In both conditions, subjects got dressed with a button shirt. We analyzed the acceleration of trunk sway and calculated each rectangle area of sway path in three axis, frontal plane, sagittal plane and horizontal plane.
Results:
In the results, there was significant difference of rectangle areas of sway path in every plane during two conditions. In specifically, there were huge differences of area in sagittal plane and horizontal plane.
Conclusion:
The data of triaxial acceleration indicated the control of trunk sway to keep the sitting balance during upper limb activities. We would continue to detail analysis in which phase the largest trunk sway occurred.