Effects on proprioceptive sensation of applying weak vibrations to the thigh

Abstract

Falls have become a worldwide problem for the health of the elderly. In recent years, equipment developed to prevent falls has focused primarily on increasing muscle strength. The purpose of this study is to establish a method to prevent falls by supplementing sensory function. Applying subthreshold vibrations to somatosensory mechanoreceptors can improve tactile sensitivity. In this study, we apply this method and propose a method to enhance knee joint coordination by presenting weak vibrations to the thigh. Experimental results showed that the proposed method significantly improved the perceived sensitivity of skin stretching for the group with low perceived sensitivity to the original skin stretching. The proposed method also significantly improved the accuracy of knee joint position sense for the group with low original knee joint position sense.