How to Train Your Posture: Haptic Feedback Can be Used for Postural Adaptation of the Trunk During Upper-Limb Motor Training

Poor trunk posture, especially during long periods of sitting, could lead to problems such as Low Back Pain (LBP) and Forward Head Posture (FHP). Typical solutions are based on visual or vibration-based feedback. However, these systems could lead to feedback being ignored by the user and phantom vibration syndrome, respectively. In this study, we propose using haptic feedback for postural adaptation. In this two-part study, twenty-four healthy participants (age 25.87 +/- 2.17 years) adapted to three different postural targets in the anterior direction while performing a unimanual reaching task using a robotic device. Results suggest a strong adaptation to the desired postural targets. Mean anterior trunk bending after the intervention is significantly different compared to baseline measurements for all postural targets. Additional analysis of movement straightness and smoothness indicates an absence of any negative interference of posture-based feedback on the performance of reaching movement. Taken together, these results suggest that haptic feedback-based systems could be used for postural adaptation applications. Also, this type of postural adaptation system can be used during the rehabilitation of stroke patients to reduce trunk compensation in lieu of typical physical constraint-based methods.