Long-term effects of mTBIs includes a higher dependency on visual inputs to control vertical posture

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the hypothesis that individuals living with long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) develop an increased dependency on visual inputs to control upright posture. To test this hypothesis, we quantified visuo-postural dependency indices (VPDIs) calculated for multiple postural behavioral markers extracted from the body’s center of pressure coordinates signals. These signals were recorded during the execution of a quiet bipedal stance under Vision and No-Vision experimental conditions. VPDIs were calculated as the normalized pair-wise subtraction of recordings obtained under Vision and No-Vision. A total of one hundred and twenty-nine volunteers were organized into two groups: mTBI group (n = 50) and neurotypical control group (n = 79). Consistent with our hypothesis, the results reveal that balance behavior of participants with mTBI deteriorate more abruptly in the absence of visual inputs when compared to neurotypical controls. These impairments might increase the likelihood of recurrent injuries and falls when time-constrained reactions are needed in daily activities, sports practice, or military operations. Additionally, the methodology used in this study shows to be potentially useful to aid future investigations of neural circuitry impaired by mTBI. It also provides indices of recovery for future clinical trials testing mTBI-related clinical interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Posture
• control
• visual dependency
• mtbi

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Data availability statement

Data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Clinical Translational Research-Infrastructure Network (U54GM104944), Montana University System Research Initiative (51030-MUSRI2015-01), and Western Michigan University’s College of Health and Human Services.