Vibrating shoe insoles help with balance

hee hee...kind of a weird one! they mention stroke and diabetic
neuropathy upfront, but at the very end, say they're planning to test
whether the balance/insole thing is also true for Parkinson's and M.S.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzt!! :->
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Vibrating Insoles Improve Balance in Patients With Stroke and
Neuropathy

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 24 - Vibrating insoles can improve
balance in patients with diabetic neuropathy and stroke, Boston
researchers report.

The vibration, adjusted to a sub-sensory level, appears to "tickle"
neurons, making them more sensitive to stimuli that are present during
quiet standing, Dr. James J. Collins of Boston University, the study's
lead author, told Reuters Health.

Dr. Collins and his team had previously shown that subsensory
mechanical noise delivered to the feet via the insoles could help
healthy elderly people, as well as healthy young adults, to maintain
better balance.
In the current study, published in the January issue of the Annals of
Neurology, the researchers tested the effects of the vibrating insoles
on sway parameters in 15 patients with diabetic neuropathy and 15
patients with stroke. Patients stood on the insoles, which contain two
vibrating elements on each forefoot and one on each heel. Because the
vibration was delivered at 90% of each foot's sensory threshold level,
patients acted as their own controls.

Data from a previous study of the insoles in 12 healthy elderly people
was included for comparison.
The researchers looked at five traditional sway parameters and three
derived from random-walk analysis. All were reduced significantly with
the noise application in all of the patients, the researchers found.
And the greater a patient's baseline level of postural sway, the more
balance control improved with noise input.

Additional research is needed, Dr. Collins and his colleagues write, to
investigate how the technology may benefit patients with stroke lesions
affecting different parts of the brain, for example the right versus
the left side of the brain.

"The main thing that we're focusing on now is testing whether the
insoles provide benefit in dynamic activity such as walking," Dr.
Collins said. He and his colleagues have completed prototypes of
insoles and shoes incorporating the vibrating elements, and are
planning studies to test them as patients walk, climb stairs and
negotiate other activities of daily living.

He and his team also plan to investigate whether the vibrating insoles
will be helpful to Parkinson's patients and patients with multiple
sclerosis.

Ann Neurol 2006;59:4-12.
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