Neurological diseases are observed in approximately one billion people
worldwide. A further increase is foreseen at the global level as a result of
population growth and aging. Individuals with neurological disorders often
experience cognitive, motor, sensory, and lower extremity dysfunctions. Thus,
the possibility of falling and balance problems arise due to the postural
control deficiencies that occur as a result of the deterioration in the
integration of multi-sensory information. We propose a novel rehabilitation
framework, Integrated Balance Rehabilitation (I-BaR), to improve the
effectiveness of the rehabilitation with objective assessment, individualized
therapy, convenience with different disability levels and adoption of an
assist-as-needed paradigm and, with an integrated rehabilitation process as a
whole, i.e., ankle-foot preparation, balance, and stepping phases,
respectively. Integrated Balance Rehabilitation allows patients to improve
their balance ability by providing multi-modal feedback: visual via utilization
of Virtual Reality; vestibular via anteroposterior and mediolateral
perturbations with the robotic platform; proprioceptive via haptic feedback.Comment: 37 pages, 2 figures, journal pape