Gait instability with frequent falls often affects children who have sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI), or who suffer from muscular dystrophy (MD). The proposed research is aimed at developing computer exercises that provide postural biofeedback training for these children. By improving children's ability to control the movement of their center of gravity while standing, postural biofeedback games are expected to improve the quality of life of pediatric patients with these common conditions. Computerized measurement of postural sway is also expected to add to the diagnostic assessment of children with neurogenic imbalance. We will test the hypothesis that the ability of youngsters with TBI or MD to control sway while standing corresponds to clinical measures of gait. Computerized posturography will be used to measure postural sway. We will develop posturographic computer exercises intended to engage the attention of children with these disorders, and collect objective measures of subjects' responses. Games comprising varying levels of difficulty will be developed and tested. This research is expected to add a new dimension to the diagnostic assessment of balance problems in pediatrics and to demonstrate the feasibility of computer-based balance games in physical therapy of children with neurogenic imbalance. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: A computer-based balance game that is both recreational and therapeutic for young people with balance problems may have commercial application in rehabilitation, sports, and occupational medicine
