Fabiola Spolaor - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Fabiola Spolaor

Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

IntroductionFootball presents a high rate of lower limb injuries and high incidence of Anterior C... more IntroductionFootball presents a high rate of lower limb injuries and high incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) rupture, especially in women. Due to this there is the need to optimize current prevention programs. This study aims to verify the possibility to reduce the biomechanical risk factors associated with ACL injury, through the application of proprioceptive stimulation by means of the Equistasi® device.MethodsTen elite female footballers were enrolled and received the device for 4 weeks (5 days/week, 1h/day). Athletes were assessed directly on-field at four time points: T0 and T1 (evaluation without and with the device), T2 (after 2 weeks), T4 (after 4 weeks) while performing two different tasks: Romberg Test, and four sidestep cutting maneuvers bilaterally. Seven video cameras synchronized with a plantar pressure system were used, thirty double colored tapes were applied on anatomical landmarks, and three dimensional coordinates reconstructed. Vertical ground reaction...

Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering

Electromyography (EMG)-driven neuromusculoskeletal modeling (NMSM) enables simulating the mechani... more Electromyography (EMG)-driven neuromusculoskeletal modeling (NMSM) enables simulating the mechanical function of multiple muscle-tendon units as controlled by nervous system in the generation of complex movements. In the context of clinical assessment this may enable understanding biomechanical factor contributing to gait disorders such as one induced by Parkinson's disease (PD). In spite of the challenges in the development of patient-specific models, this preliminary study aimed at establishing a feasible and noninvasive experimental and modeling pipeline to be adopted in clinics to detect PD-induced gait alterations. Four different NMSM have been implemented for three healthy controls using CEINMS, an OpenSim-compatible toolbox. Models differed in the EMG-normalization methods used for calibration purposes (i.e. walking trial normalization and maximum voluntary contraction normalization) and in the set of experimental EMGs used for the musculotendon-unit mapping (i.e. 4 channels vs. 15 channels). Model accuracy assessment showed no statistically significant differences between the more complete model (non-clinically viable) and the proposed reduced one (clinically viable). The clinically viable reduced model was systematically applied on a dataset including ten PD's and thirteen healthy controls. Results showed significant differences in the neuromuscular control strategy of the PD group in term of muscle forces and joint torques. Indeed, PD patients displayed a significantly lower magnitude on force production and revealed a higher amount of force variability with the respect of the healthy controls. The estimated variables could become a measurable biomechanical outcome to assess and track both disease progression and its impact on gait in PD subjects.

Type 2 diabetes is predicted to become the 7th leading cause of death in the world by the year 20... more Type 2 diabetes is predicted to become the 7th leading cause of death in the world by the year 2030 [1]. Diabetic foot is the most common long-term diabetic complication, and it is a major risk factor for plantar ulceration (PU), it

Minerva Orthopedics, 2021

2021 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA), 2021

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is commonly adopted to characterize walking in patients affected ... more Surface electromyography (sEMG) is commonly adopted to characterize walking in patients affected by Parkinson’s disease (PD). Timing and morphology of sEMG signal are typically investigated, while poor information on frequency content is available. Thus, the present pilot study was designed to test the hypothesis that continuous wavelet transform (CWT) of sEMG signal is a suitable approach to assess muscle activity during PD-walking task, in both time and frequency domains. To this aim, sEMG signals from 4 leg muscles of 5 patients are acquired during walking and processed to assess CWT-scalogram function. Results show that CWT is able to provide time ranges of muscle-activation over the whole PD population, which matches with what reported in previous studies on PD. The novel contribution of this study consists in achieving a characterization of the frequency content of each one of regions detected in time domain. Although the frequency content does not exceed the typical frequency range between 5 Hz and 450 Hz, different mean frequency contents are observed among muscles and among different activations of the same muscle. In particular, a relevant variability of frequency content is observed for thigh muscles, showing differences up to 180 Hz between stance and swing values. In conclusion, present findings support the use of CWT scalogram for a reliable assessment of muscle activity in time-frequency domain, during walking of PD patients. Outcomes highlight a large inter and intra muscle variability of frequency range, opening a new field of investigation for future studies.

Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 2021

Axial disorders, including postural deformities, postural instability, and gait disturbances, are... more Axial disorders, including postural deformities, postural instability, and gait disturbances, are among the most disabling symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Equistasi®, a wearable proprioceptive stabilizer device, has been proposed as neurological rehabilitative device for this set of symptoms. To investigate the effects of the device on gait and balance, 24 participants affected by PD were enrolled in this crossover double-dummy, randomized, controlled study. Subjects were assessed four times before and after 8 weeks treatment with either active or placebo device; one-month wash-out was taken between treatments, in a 20-week timeframe. Gait analysis and instrumented Romberg test were performed with the aid of a sterofotogrammetric system and two force plates. Joint kinematics, spatiotemporal parameters of gait and center of pressure parameters were extracted. Paired T-test (p < 0.05) was adopted after evidence of normality to compare the variables across different acquisition sessions; Wilcoxon was adopted for non-normal distributions. Before and after the treatment with the active device, statistically significant improvements were observed in trunk flexion extension and in the ankle dorsi-plantarflexion. Regarding balance assessment, significant improvements were reported at the frequencies corresponding to vestibular system. These findings may open new possibilities on PD's rehabilitative interventions. Research question, tailored design of the study, experimental acquisition overview, main findings, and conclusions.

Gait & Posture, 2020

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Gait & Posture, 2018

Table 1 Directly measured and estimated oxygen consumption (VO2) are displayed for each type of t... more Table 1 Directly measured and estimated oxygen consumption (VO2) are displayed for each type of training (aerobic and isotonic) * indicates a significant difference vs measured VO2 and • a significant difference vs aerobic training. Training type Measured VO2 (ml/min) Estimated VO2 (ml/min) AEROBIC 1368,96 1397,83 ISOTONIC 667,03 • 910,96 • * combination with isotonic/strength training (50 to 70% of 1RM). Accurate quantification and monitoring of exercise "dose", as described by VO 2 , is necessary for appropriate and individualised prescription of aerobic exercise and for the interpretation of exercise-induced health benefits (Gaber, 2011). However, due to the elevated cost of direct, gold-standard methods, this is rarely done outside research laboratories. HR index (HR index) is a simple method to estimate VO 2 in healthy and clinical populations. We tested the performance of HR index to estimate VO 2 in diabetic patients during aerobic and isotonic training sessions. Methods: 12 male subjects (age: 64 ± 5 years; BMI: 26 ± 12) with uncomplicated T2DM on oral hypoglycemic drugs were recruited. VO 2 consumption and HR were continuously measured (K4, Cosmed, Italy) during one aerobic and one isotonic training session, each lasting 60 min. Individual HR index was calculated as actual HR/resting HR and the following equation was applied to estimate average VO 2 for both training sessions 2 : VO 2 (L/min) = {[(HR index •6)-5] • (3.5 body weight (Kg))} (Wicks, 2011). Correspondence between measured and estimated VO 2 was evaluated by two-way ANOVA (method of determination and training type) and correlation. Results: Measured VO 2 was higher for the aerobic compared to the isotonic training session (Table 1). Estimated values of VO 2 during the aerobic session were not significantly different from (p = 0.36) and highly correlated (r = 0.89) with the measured values. On the contrary, during the isotonic session, HR index significantly overestimated VO 2 compared to the actual measure and only a moderate correlation was found between measured and estimated values (r = 0.41). Discussion: We tested the performance of HR index in predicting oxygen consumption (VO 2) in a group of diabetic patients during aerobic and isotonic training sessions, by comparison with the gold standard direct method. Our data indicate that HR index significantly overestimates VO 2 during isotonic exercise, possibly due to the dissociation between HR and VO 2 that is inherent to this form of exercise. On the contrary, our data support the hypothesis that HR index is a valid tool to estimate VO 2 of prolonged aerobic exercise sessions in diabetic patients. This simple approach offers a valid alternative to the high "cost" (equipment, time, expertise) gold-standard measurement of VO 2 favouring the generalised applicability of measures of exercise "dose". The knowledge of population-specific dose-response curves is paramount to guide personalised and evidence-based exercise prescription.

International orthodontics, 2018

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the rapid palatal expansion (RPE) on pos... more The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the rapid palatal expansion (RPE) on posture and gait analysis in subjects with maxillary transverse discrepancies. Forty-one patients between 6 and 12 years were divided into 3 groups: 10 control subjects (Cs), 16 patients with unilateral posterior crossbite (CbMono), 15 patients with maxillary transverse discrepancy and no crossbite (Nocb). Every subject underwent gait analysis and posturographic examination in order to evaluate the presence of balance alterations before (T0) and after (T4) RPE application. The examinations were performed through a six-cameras stereophotogrammetric system (60-120Hz, BTS S.p.A.) synchronized with two force plates (FP4060, Bertec Corp.). Romberg test was performed on a force plate, and the statokinesiogram and joint kinematics were evaluated. One-way Anova was performed among the variables after evidence of normal distribution (Levene's test for equality of variances) and Kruskal-Wallis te...

Gait & Posture, 2017

A methodological framework for detecting ulcers' risk in diabetic foot subjects by combining gait... more A methodological framework for detecting ulcers' risk in diabetic foot subjects by combining gait analysis, a new musculoskeletal foot model and a foot finite element model. Proposed Title: A methodological framework for evaluating plantar pressure and stresses in the internal foot structures by combining gait analysis, a new musculoskeletal foot model and a foot finite element model.

Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2016

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) causes motor control alterations during daily life activitie... more Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) causes motor control alterations during daily life activities. Tripping during walking or stair climbing is the predominant cause of falls in the elderly subjects with DPN and without (NoDPN). Surface Electromyography (sEMG) has been shown to be a valid tool for detecting alterations of motor functions in subjects with DPN. This study aims at investigating the presence of functional alterations in diabetic subjects during stair climbing and at exploring the relationship between altered muscle activation and temporal parameter. Lower limb muscle activities, temporal parameters and speed were evaluated in 50 subjects (10 controls, 20 with DPN, 20 without DPN), while climbing up and down a stair, using sEMG, three-dimentional motion capture and force plates. Magnitude and timing of sEMG linear envelopes peaks were extracted. Level walking was used as reference condition for the comparison with step negotiation. sEMG, speed and temporal parameters revealed significant differences among all groups of patients. Results showed an association between earlier activation of lower limb muscles and reduced speed in subjects with DPN. Speed and temporal parameters significantly correlated with sEMG (p < 0.05). The findings of this study are encouraging and could be used to improve rehabilitation programs aiming at reducing falls risk in diabetic subjects.

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2015