Sensory substitution of elbow proprioception to improve myoelectric control of upper limb prosthesis: experiment on healthy subjects and amputees.
Matthieu Guémann, Christophe Halgand, Aurélia Bastier and 5 others
PMID 35690860WHAT IT FOUND
Vibrotactile feedback alone improved elbow control accuracy compared to no feedback, but adding it to vision did not improve accuracy over vision alone.
Patients showed no significant accuracy differences between feedback types, though healthy users preferred the combined visual and tactile condition.
Key findings
01For healthy participants, vibrotactile feedback alone significantly reduced angular error compared to no feedback, but did not significantly differ from vision alone or combined vision and vibration.
02Patients with amputation showed no significant differences in movement accuracy between any of the feedback conditions (vision, vibration, combined, or none).
03Healthy participants rated the combined vision and vibration feedback as their most preferred option, despite it not improving accuracy over vision alone.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample size of patients was very small (n=6), and one patient did not complete the second part of the experiment due to fatigue. Participants had only a single session with minimal training, which may not reflect the benefits seen after long-term familiarization. The task involved a virtual avatar rather than a real physical prosthesis, limiting ecological validity. No significant differences were found in the patient group, possibly due to the small sample size or the difficulty of the task without prior training. The study did not include occupational therapy or speech-language pathology outcomes or populations.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA), the French defence procurement agency. The authors declared no other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this vibrotactile system will improve control accuracy for your amputee patients. The study found no significant accuracy difference between feedback types in the patient group, and in healthy users, adding vibration to vision did not improve performance over vision alone.