Members of the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory, directed by School of Kinesiology professor Jürgen Konczak, published two papers from the 2020 Design of Medical Devices Conference, in the Frontiers of Biomedical Devices conference proceedings journal on July 27, 2020. 

Their paper titled A System for the Objective Assessment of Hand Proprioceptive Function in Pediatric and Adult Populations, presents a new tablet-based system that objectively measures proprioceptive signals. Proprioceptive signals are essential for the control of muscle tone and voluntary movement. Numerous neurological and orthopedic disorders are associated with proprioceptive dysfunction that impairs the control of balance and/or fine motor function. However, obtaining objective measures of proprioceptive function is difficult in most clinical settings, because available assessment methods rely on specialized equipment, expertise, or are too time-consuming. The published paper provides initial data that demonstrates the ease-of-use and efficacy of the system. 

Publishing lab members are Jinseok Oh, Arash Mahnan, Jiapeng Xu, Jessica Holst-Wolf, Hannah Block, and Jürgen Konczak. 

Their paper titled, A New System to Objectively Measure Ankle Proprioception, presents a system with a novel hardware design that applies an established psychometric testing protocol that generates a Just-Noticeable-Difference threshold as a measure of ankle proprioceptive acuity at the end of testing. Ankle proprioceptive testing provides essential feedback for maintaining balance. Currently, there is no widely accepted test or measurement system available for determining the proprioceptive accuracy of the human ankle joint. This assessment has the potential to become a tool for clinicians to identify proprioceptive impairment at the ankle and to assess the efficacy of sensorimotor interventions for improving balance in clinical populations.

Publishing lab members are Arash Mahnan, Jessica Holst-Wolf, and Jürgen Konczak.