303 research outputs found
Effectiveness of Mechanical Horse-Riding Simulators on Postural Balance in Neurological Rehabilitation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Mechanical horse-riding simulators consist of a device that mimics the movement of a real horse, generating between 50 and 100 three-dimensional physical movements (forward and back, left and right, up and down). The main objective of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of mechanical horse-riding simulators to improve postural balance in subjects with neurological disorders. The search was conducted during January-March 2019 in PubMed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Cochrane, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Scopus. The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated through the PEDro scale. A total of seven articles were included in this systematic review, of which four contributed information to the meta-analysis. Statistical analysis showed favorable results for balance in stroke patients, measured by the Berg Balance Scale (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 3.24; 95%; confidence interval (CI): 1.66-4.83). Not conclusive results were found in sitting postural balance, measured using the Gross Motor Function Measure-66 (GMFM-66) Sitting Dimension, in patients with cerebral palsy. Most studies have shown beneficial effects on postural balance compared with conventional physical therapy. However, due to the limited number of articles and their low methodological quality, no solid conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of this therapy
Sensation seeking, non-contextual decision making, and driving abilities as measured through a moped simulator.
The general aim of the present study was to explore the relations between driving style (assessed through a moped riding simulator) and psychological variables such as sensation seeking and decision making. Because the influences of sensation seeking and decision making on driving styles have been studied separately in the literature, we have tried to investigate their mutual relations so as to include them in a more integrated framework. Participants rode the Honda Riding Trainer (HRT) simulator, filled in the Sensation Seeking Scale V (SSS V), and performed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). A cluster analysis of the HRT riding indexes identified three groups: Prudent, Imprudent, and Insecure riders. First, the results showed that Insecure males seek thrills and adventure less than both Prudent males and Insecure females, whereas Prudent females are less disinhibited than both Prudent males and Insecure females. Moreover, concerning the relations among SSS, decision making as measured by the IGT, and riding performance, high thrill and adventure seekers performed worse in the simulator only if they were also bad decision makers, indicating that these two traits jointly contribute to the quality of riding performance. From an applied perspective, these results also provide useful information for the development of protocols for assessing driving abilities among novice road users. Indeed, the relation between risk proneness and riding style may allow for the identification of road-user populations who require specific training
Evaluation of Horse Riding Simulator with Strengthening Training Program and Conventional Physiotherapy in treatment of Children with Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy
Background: Cerebral Palsy is a group of disorders that affect the development and growth of the movement leading to the determination in the activities of the body, especially related to movements. These disorders occur as a result of damage or deterioration in certain parts of the brain.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of horse riding simulator with strengthening training program on children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy and comparing it with conventional physiotherapy program which is used in rehabilitation.
Patients and Methods: Thirty participants were recruited in this study, who were diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. Their ages between four and twelve years old, the children were randomly classified into three groups of interventions Horse Riding Simulator with Strengthening Training, Horse Riding Simulator with conventional physiotherapy and control group with conventional physiotherapy).for each intervention, the children receive 24 sessions three times a week, [Gross Motor Function Measure-66, pediatric balance scale, and Modified Modified Ashworth Scale] were used to evaluate children in all groups both pre and post each intervention.
Results: Post-intervention in the groups of horse riding simulator and strengthening training and horse riding with conventional physiotherapy shows significantly improved in gross motor function measures -66(P=0.021), (P=0.001) respectively, while no significant difference have been noted in conventional physiotherapy group. on the other hand, no significant improvement have been shown in all intervention groups in Pediatric Balance Scale. Furthermore, muscle tone reduced with a too small value of significant improvement in a group of horse riding simulator with strengthening training in adductor muscle of hip joint for right and left leg (P=0.052),(P=0.059) respectively, while no significant differences have been reported in other studies groups, there wasno significant improvement have been shown in muscle tone for knee extensor and ankle plantar flexors except too small values close to significant level in the ankle plantar flexors for the right leg in a group of horse riding with strengthening training (P= 0.050).
Conclusion: The evidence from this study confirmed that horse riding simulator with strengthening training has a positive effect on (GMFM-66) and could reduce spasticity in the muscle for children with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy
Personality traits and beliefs about peers\u2019 on-road behaviors as predictors of adolescents\u2019 moped-riding profiles.
Several efforts aimed at discriminating between different degrees of on-road risky
attitudes have been devoted to the identification of personality profiles among young
drivers. However, the results are often inconsistent because of the limits of selfreport
measures. To overcome these limits, we tried to identify different profiles based
on our study participants\u2019 driving performances in a virtual environment and to look
for psychological predictors of inclusion in one of three profiles. One-hundred and
fourteen inexperienced adolescents were involved in this study, which included two
experimental sessions. During the first, before riding along five virtual courses on a
moped simulator, participants\u2019 sensation seeking, locus of control, aggressiveness and
beliefs about their peers\u2019 on-road behaviors were measured by means of self-report
tools. During the second session, the participants drove the simulator along six courses
that were different from those faced in the first session. A cluster analysis was run
on a wide number of indexes extracted from the participants\u2019 performances to detect
different riding profiles. Three profiles emerged (Imprudent, Prudent and Insecure), with
specific riding patterns. The profiles also differed in terms of riding safety, assessed
by means of the scores automatically given by the simulator to the participants\u2019
performances. Reporting an external locus of control, underestimating peers\u2019 on-road
risky behaviors and showing less concern for fate among the possible causes of crashes
are predictors that increase the risk of being included in the Imprudent profile. Low levels
of dangerous thrill seeking predict inclusion in the Prudent profile, whereas high rates
of self-reported anger play a role in discriminating the Insecure riders from the other
profiles. The study indicates that it is possible to identify riding profiles with different
degrees of on-road safety among inexperienced adolescents by means of simulated
road environments. Moreover, inclusion in these profiles is predicted by different patterns
of personality variables and beliefs. Further research is needed to verify the validity of
these conclusions in real road conditions
A First Step toward the Understanding of Implicit Learning of Hazard Anticipation in Inexperienced Road Users Through a Moped-Riding Simulator
Hazard perception is considered one of the most important abilities in road safety.
Several efforts have been devoted to investigating how it improves with experience
and can be trained. Recently, research has focused on the implicit aspects of hazard
detection, reaction, and anticipation. In the present study, we attempted to understand
how the ability to anticipate hazards develops during training with a moped-riding
simulator: the Honda Riding Trainer (HRT). Several studies have already validated the
HRT as a tool to enhance adolescents\u2019 hazard perception and riding abilities. In the
present study, as an index of hazard anticipation, we used skin conductance response
(SCR), which has been demonstrated to be linked to affective/implicit appraisal of risk.
We administered to a group of inexperienced road users five road courses two times a
week apart. In each course, participants had to deal with eight hazard scenes (except
one course that included only seven hazard scenes). Participants had to ride along
the HRT courses, facing the potentially hazardous situations, following traffic rules, and
trying to avoid accidents. During the task, we measured SCR and monitored driving
performance. The main results show that learning to ride the simulator leads to both a
reduction in the number of accidents and anticipation of the somatic response related
to hazard detection, as proven by the reduction of SCR onset recorded in the second
session. The finding that the SCR signaling the impending hazard appears earlier when
the already encountered hazard situations are faced anew suggests that training with
the simulator acts on the somatic activation associated with the experience of risky
situations, improving its effectiveness in detecting hazards in advance so as to avoid
accidents. This represents the starting point for future investigations into the process of
generalization of learning acquired in new virtual situations and in real-road situations
Force feedback control based on VGSTA for single track riding simulator
International audienceA direct application of the variable-gain super-twisting algorithm (VGSTA) is implemented for torque feedback on a handlebar of a riding simulator. This control strategy aims to compensate perturbations changing with the system states. Thanks to the good tracking performance and robustness/insensitiveness of such a control method, a precise estimation of the rider's torque applied on the riding simulator handlebar is possible. A first-order sliding-mode observer with stabilization is designed for the estimation of the unknown input rider action. Experimental implementation and analysis are provided to point-out the effectiveness of the proposed approach
Long-lasting virtual motorcycle-riding trainer effectiveness
This work aimed to test the long-lasting effects of learning acquired with a virtual motorcycle-riding trainer as a tool to improve hazard perception. During the simulation, the rider can interact with other road actors and experience the most common potential accident situations in order to learn to modify his or her behavior to anticipate hazards and avoid crashes. We compared performance to the riding simulator of the two groups of participants: the experimental group, which was trained with the same simulator one year prior, and the control group that had not received any type of training with a riding or driving simulator. All of the participants had ridden a moped in the previous 12 months. The experimental group showed greater abilities to avoid accidents and recognize hazards in comparison to their performance observed a year before, whereas the performance of the control group was similar to that of the experimental group 1 year before in the first two sessions, and even better in the third. We interpreted this latter result as a consequence of their prior on-road experience. Also, the fact that the performance of the experimental group at the beginning of the follow-up is better than that recorded at the end of the training 1 year before is in line with the idea of a transfer from the on-road experience to the simulator. The present data confirm our main expectation that the effectiveness of the riding training simulator on the ability to cope with potentially dangerous situations persists over time and provides additional evidence in favor of the idea that simulators may be considered useful tools for training the ability to detect and react to hazards, leading to an improvement of this higher-order cognitive skill that persists over time. Implications for the reciprocal influence of the training with the simulator and the on-the road experience are discussed as well
EQUESTRIAN RIDER TRUNK-PELVIS STRATEGIES CAN BE IDENTIFIED USING SELF-ORGANISING MAPS
The purpose of the study was to explore whether equestrian riders can be grouped by their trunk-pelvis movement strategy. Riders (n = 40) with national or international competition experience in dressage were measured using motion capture on a riding simulator for ten seconds of simulated medium and extended trot. Trunk and pelvic pitch trajectories were filtered, time-normalised to the riding simulator’s vertical displacement cycle, and scaled. A self-organising map, with subsequent k-means clustering, identified three groups of rider-trunk pelvis movement. These groups related to the relative timing between peak posterior trunk and pelvis pitch. The study identified movement-based classifications of riders for future studies, which may have implications for rider injury risk and training
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