Journal of Research in Rehabilitation Sciences
Year:2014 | Volume:9 | Issue:6|Papers Count:25

Introduction: Aging has been associated with increasing foot pronation and changes in foot mobility which may influence standing balance. Orthotic interventions change foot posture and load distribution under the foot and therefore may have important effects on balance in older people. To investigate whether a pronated foot posture is associated with poorer standing balance in older people and whether medial heel and sole wedge orthoses affect their standing balance.Materials and Methods: Nine healthy older people with a pronated foot posture (age 67.1±5.7 years) and Fourteen healthy elderly with normal foot posture (age 67.1±6.4 years) were recruited. The Foot Posture Index was used to determine the pronated (FPI 7.5±0.7) and normal (FPI 3.8±1.5) foot posture. Static balance in double limb stance was assessed using Kistler force plate measures during four random shod conditions: 1) 5o medial heel and sole wedge; 2) 8o medial heel and sole wedge; 3) 5oflat EVA base insole; 5) 8oflat EVA base insole. Each of the four cases was completed with eyes open (three trials) and eyes closed (three trials). The center-of-pressure (COP) mean excursion, total path length of COP, mean velocity of COP and area of 95% confidence ellipse were derived as measures of standing balance.Results: Participants with a pronated foot type demonstrated higher total and mean velocity excursion data in AP and ML directions, and larger ellipse, during normal standing, but this did not reach statistical significance (P>0.05). There were no statistically significant effects from the four orthoses designs in the pronated nor the normal foot types (P>0.05). Main effects for eye conditions were significant for center-of-pressure excursion and mean velocity in medial-lateral directions (P<0.001) also for total excursion and mean distance in anterior-posterior direction. Also there were no significant differences in interaction of all conditions (foot posture × eye condition × orthoses) (P>0.05).Conclusion: A trend towards less stable balance was observed in pronated foot type but this was not significant. Use of orthoses had no effect on balance parameters including negating the effects of eyes closed. Orthoses showed no negative effects on standing balance and therefore do not pose a threat to balance (e.g. if they are used for another purpose).

Introduction: Solvents are most commonly inhaled in their volatized form and absorbed through the respiratory tract. Several studies have reported central auditory damage caused by exposure to solvents. By considering the possible neurotoxicity of exposure to the solvents, central auditory processing may affect in peopole subjected to these solvents. This could undesirably affect the peopole function in routine hearing condition. This study was aimed to evaluate central auditory processing in people exposed to organic solvents.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 62 subjects exposed to solvent and 93 subjects without exposure was employed in a car factory. All subjects had normal hearing thresholds and tympanogram and acoustic reflex and acoustic reflex decay. After running test, the percentage of correct responses obtained and analyzed by using the non-parametric Mann-Witney U test.Results: No differences in in the left ear and right ear dichotic digits test were found between the exposed and non-exposed to solvents groups, but statistically significant differences were found between the two groups for total score.Conclusion: performance of the group of workers exposed to solvents was poorer than that of the non-exposed subjects which indicate difficulties in their binaural integration aspect.

Introduction: Self-esteem play essential roles in all of life aspects of peoples, particularly adolescents with intellectual disablity. Therefore, emphasized on instruction of programs that led to improvement of self-esteem. This study was aimed to investigate of the effctiveness of social skills training on self-esteem of adolescents with intellectual disability in Mazandaran province.Materials and Methods: In this semi-experimental study with pretest and posttest design with control group, were selected fourty girls adolescents with intellectual disablity of 14-18 years old through multi-stage cluster sampling method. Subjects allocated randomly into two groups (experimental and control) and each group consist of 20 individuals. Experimental group attended in social skills training in the 8 sessions lasting for 90 minutes, but control group did not. All the participants were assessed through Cooper Smith’s self-esteem questionare. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by MANCOVA using SPSS software (version 16, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).Results: The results of MANCOVA for subscales of self-esteem showed that experimental and control group had significant difference, At least in one of the subscales of the self-esteem of self, social, familly or academic (P=0.0027). The final results of MANCOVA showed that social skills training had significant and positive effect on the self-esteem of self (P=0.0033), self-esteem of social (P=0.0041), self-esteem of familly (P=0.0039) and self-esteem of academic (P=0.0026).Conclusion: Social skills training program led to improvement of the self-esteem and their subscules on adolescents with intellectual disability. So planning for Social skills training is of particular importance for adolescents with intellectual disability.

Introduction: Stability is the ability of subjects to keep their upright posture, which is enhanced by combination strategies of various musculoskeletal systems. Various methods have been used to evaluate the abilities of subjects during standing, including linear and nonlinear methods. It is not clear that which one of these two methods has more ability to represent stability of subjects with various neurological and musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the stability of the subjects with various neurological and musculoskeletal disorders using linear and nonlinear methods.Materials and Methods: Four groups of subjects including, normal subjects and subjects with three different disorders of flatfoot, Parkinson's Disease (PD), and Perthes were recruited in this study. A Kistler force plate was used to evaluate the stability of the subjects. The difference between the linear (Center of Pressure Excursion, Velocity and Path Length) and nonlinear (Approximate Entropy=ApEn) parameters was evaluated by two sample t test.Results: The mean value of COP velocity of flatfoot and perthes subjects were 1621.5±405.6 and 878.4±195 mm/min in the mediolateral direction, respectively (P<0.05). The mean value of ApEn in the anteroposterior direction was 0.94±0.16 in flatfoot subjects and 0.99±0.21 in those with perthes. However, it was 0.45±0.06 in the subjects with PD. The difference between normal subjects and all other groups of participants was significant (P<0.05).Conclusion: It seems that nonlinear method is more sensitive to represent the difference between stability of subjects with different neurological and musculoskeletal disorders. However when linear approach is selected for data analysis it is suggested to use a group of parameters instead of only one parameter. Depending on the kind of diseases, increasing and decreasing the value of Approximate Entropy represent the instability situations.

Introduction: to study the differences between effect of errorless and errorful learning on performance kinematic parameters.Materials and Methods: 24 female students involved in three errorless, errorful and constant groups. The throwing instruction was not given to the groups. Errorful group practiced respectively at 2.5, 2.75, 3, 3.25, 3.5 meters, errorless group practiced in contrast with errorful group and constant group only from 3 meter began to practice. After three days of practice, acquisition, retention and transfer tests were done. Motion analysis machine was used to collecting the kinematic data in all periods.Results: in the retention test, the errorless group performance was significantly better than other two groups and in transfer test, the errorful group performance decreased. In performing of secondary cognitive task was not found significant differences between errorless and constant groups. In kinematic data analysis, the errorless group reached to the motor task skilled model but the errorful group was far from performance of motor task skilled model.Conclusion: The errorless learning is an efficient method in throwing skill learning of this study.

Introduction: Autism is a neurological disorder with increasing prevalence which affects various dimensions of the children and their families that often require multi-dimensional, lifelong rehabilitation and therapy services; therefore, this study aims to investigate the needs of autistic children's mothers.Materials and Methods: This research is a Need Assessment. Research sample included 41 parents of autistic children who were selected through available sampling from three autistic clinics in Mashhad. Participants completed the author’s produced questionnaire and filled nine rehabilitation and educational categories. The reliability of the questionnaire (nine categories) was assessed through the application of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and equaled a=0.94.Results: The result of one sample T test indicated that the parents agreed on the utilization of all rehabilitation and educational categories. They placed more emphasis on the following four categories: child's self-care, child's play skills, parents playing with child, child's cognitive and mind problems and child's communicative skill. Furthermore, the results of MANCOVA demonstrated that child's age, the number of birth, mother's age and parents' education have no influence on the needs' prioritization.Conclusion: Applying the results of the current need assessment can help professionals and therapists to offer psychological and rehabilitation services to the patients and provide them with an appropriate prioritization of their needs.

Introduction: Fear-avoidance beliefs (FAB) are one of the important psychologic factors related to disability and work abcence. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of FAB with disability and postural stability in patients with non specific chronic low back pain (NCLBP) and impact of short specific training on FAB in patients with NCLBP.Materials and Methods: In this semi experimental study, 51 subjects with NCLBP were evaluated. Pain intensity, FAB and disability were measured using questionnaires and Postural stability was measured using force plate. Abdominal and back muscle endurance was measured respectively by sit up and surensen tests. The association of FAB and pain intensity with parameters of postural stability was analyzed using multivariate general linear modle with adjusting for age, body mass index, physical activity, back and abdominal muscle endurance and sex.Results: pain intensity and FAB (physical activity) were related to postural stability in unilateral standing (p<0.01). FAB (work) was related to disability and backmuscle endurance (p<0.01). In quiet standing FAB was not related to any parameter of postural stability.Conclusion: The exictance of association of FAB (physical activity) with center of pressure excursion and velocity in unilateral standing may help in applying a simple sterategy for evaluating patients with NSCLBP focusing on their psychosocial condition such as fear avoidance believes.

Introduction: A critical factor which affects human voice is hearing because it provides necessary feedback for voice and speech control. An intact auditory system as well as normal auditory feedback controls significant aspects of speech including vocal acoustics thus the person is able to correct the related mistakes. Normal vocal acoustics depends on auditory system.Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study on 27 subjects aged 6 to 11 with severe to profound bilateral hearing loss compared to 27 normal subjects. Participants matched according to age and gender, sampling was performed in Baghche-Ban specialty school and two elementary schools (Normal children). Further to hearing auditory tests, subjects voice were evaluated by a Visipitch III model 3900 hardware system and MDVP software model 5015 created by Kay-Pentax company (USA). All qualitative data were processed by Spss software, t.test and Pearson correlation.Results: In subjects with hearing impairment fundamental frequency (F0), the upper limit of fundamental frequency (F0 max) and Peak to Peak Amplitude Variation (vAm) were higher than the normal group and a statistically significant difference was found. Although shimmer (Amplitude Perturbation) and Jitter (Frequency Perturbation), Fundamental Frequency Variation (vF0) and Noise to Harmonic Ratio (NHR) in hearing loss group was more than normal group but no statistically significant difference was detected. There was significant correlation between NHR and shimmer and Jitter.Conclusion: Severe to profound hearing loss due to reduction of adequate auditory feedback on acoustic voice parameters. The most significant changes happen in the fundamental frequency and vAm.

Introduction: Studies have shown that stress fracture is one of the most common injuries among recreational runners. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two different shoe types on variables related to tibia stress fracture injury during running.Materials and Methods: Twenty five healthy young men (21±2.27 years old) participated in this quasi-experimental study. Subjects all ran on the force plate in barefoot, with unstable and control shoe conditions.Results: Unstable shoes increased vertical loading rate significantly compared to control shoe by 80% (p=0.001). In addition, peak passive force significantly increased in unstable shoe compared to control shoe (p<0.05) and barefoot condition (p=0.039,). However, control shoe decreased peak passive force and loading rate compared to barefoot condition (p=0.002, p=0.001, respectively).Conclusion: Using unstable shoe compared to control shoe could increase the variables related to stress fracture injury during stance phase of running.

Introduction: Voice disorder between teachers which are the largest professional voice users is about 60%. Since most of the voice symptoms of the teachers with voice disorder is due to the effect of their jobs, it is necessary to design a questionnaire with appropriate characteristics for measuring voice disorder and fast diagnosis and reduction of the social and economic costs. a protocol entitled "Designing a voice disorder test for elementary teachers in Isfahan" was designed by Mojiri and Azamian in 2010. The weak point of that questionnaire was not determination of clinical utility. Therefore, the aim of the present research returns back to the determination of psychometric properties of that questionnaire in order to fast screening of voice disorder in this population.Materials and Methods: In this research, 52 teachers with normal voice and 52 with voice disorders in an analytical study with easy sampling method were employed. Voice samples of teachers were gathered in order to perform acoustic and perceptual evaluations and then the form of voice complaints and the questionnaire were filled. The ROC test was used to determine the sensitivity, specificity and cut off point.Results: In the research for cut-off point 9 the sensitivity, specificity, positive Predictive Value, Negative positive Predictive Value, likelihood ratio 0.78, 0.94, %93, %81, and %13.6 were obtained respectively.Conclusion: The present questionnaire has a great ability in the determination of people with voice disorders and the teachers with normal voice. Therefore, it can be considered as an appropriate protocol for voice disorders screening between the teachers.

Introduction: Mentally retarded children are among those who, due to special mental conditions are more sedentary than healthy people. This physical inactivity leads to motor and body weaknesses in them. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks Rebound exercises on static and dynamic balance in mentally retarded educable children.Materials and Methods: In this semi-experimental study a total of 30 male students, 7 to 11 year-old studying at special schools of Lordegan, with mean age and standard deviation (8.4±1.27) and IQ 50 to 70 (62.10±5.88), were purposefully and availably selected as the sample and were randomly assigned to two matched groups: control (n=15) and experimental (n=15) according to their IQ scores. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency was used to evaluate subjects' balance. During 8 weeks of workouts, the experimental group performed the Rebound exercises three sessions per week, each session lasted 45 minutes. At the end of this period both groups were post-tested. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to statistical analysis with a=0.05.Results: Average pre-test static balance test records in both experimental and control groups, respectively, 5.44 and 6.86 seconds. In order to test the rate of 6.92 and 7.15 Seconds has been and Average pre-test dynamic balance test records in both experimental and control groups were, respectively, 3.42 and 4.37 steps. In order to test the amount of 4.64 and 4.28 step has been. Therefore Research findings showed that Rebound exercises had a significant effect on static balance (p=.002) and dynamic balance (p=.000) in mentally retarded children.Conclusion: Findings indicated that rebound exercise therapy can be used in rehabilitation of mentally retarded children.

Introduction: Despite many research on foot deformities (flat foot & pes cavus), still There isn’t any public agreement about the range of them. So the aim of this present study was "Determination of foot arch index in deferent ages groups for men and women in Esfahan city".Materials and Methods: Pupulation of this study were all of the people from Esfahan city, 250 female and 250 male were randomly selected between healthy subjects, in 5 geographic regions (north, south, east, west, center) and 5 age groups from Esfahan city. The foot print was recorded by arch index of Staheli and (AI) was calculated. Data analysis was done by determining mean and standard deviation for desired ages and sexes and confidence interval %95. All dada were analyzed by SPSS version 18.0 (P£0.05).Results: AI respectively is (0.79±0.22) & (0.72±0.23) in boys and girls 9 to 14 y. AI respectively is (0.75±0.19) & (0.71±0.18) in boys and girls 15 to 24 y. AI respectively is (0.73±0.13) & (0.70±0.17) in men and women 25 to 44 y. AI respectively is (0.72±0.10) & (0.73±0.16) in men and women 45 to 64 y. AI respectively is (0.72±0.11) & (0.77±0.18) in men and women 65 y & above.Conclusion: According to the results of this study foot arch index in men and women were determined and also, in age groups of 14 in boys and 65 & above in women, increasing was seen in mean of AI. Without attention to the age, the mean AI of the men is a little higher than the women (But were not significant statistically (p<0.05)).

Introduction: Developmental Coordination Disorder is a lifelong disability, in that its social, emotional and academic problems may persist through adolescence and adulthood. Therefore, early detection and intervention foraffected children seem to be essential. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of developmental coordination disorder in Iranian children with the age range of 3 to 11 years.Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive-exploratory study for which a multi-stage systematic sampling method was recruited to select the participants of the investigation. At the start of the study, a total number of 1784 Parents were required to complete the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire.15 percent of children with the lowest inventory scores were subsequently selected for the main study. The Test of Gross Motor development-2 was used to evaluate the motor performance as well as the prevalence of developmental coordination disorder in the children. Children with common medical disorders and those with IQ less than 70 were excluded from the study. The Chi-Square test at a significance level of a=0.05 was used for statistical data analysis.Results: The prevalence of Developmental coordination disorder was found to be 2.7%. The calculated prevalence of DCD was found to be 3.53% in boys and 1.85% in girls with an actual gender ratio of 2:1.Conclusion: Although this rate is lower than previously reported rates, it demands that parents and officials be more sensitive to the disorder, enhance physical education programs and encourage children toward physical activities in order to prevent the secondary problems resulted from the disorder.

Introduction: One of the most common behavioral problems in children with intellectual disability is physical aggression. Physical aggression is described as behaviors such as hitting, kicking, throwing object and threatening with the intent to harm others. Physical aggression is related to the different factors such as language skills, which has been examined among intellectually disabled children in the present study.Materials and Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional survey, 102 intellectually disabled children of 6 and 8 years old (51 girls and 51 boys) who satisfied the inclusion criteria were recruited from educational centers for children with intellectual disability in Shiraz by stratified sampling method (age and gender). The Test of Language Development-Primary: 3rd Edition (TOLD-3) and Overt and Relational Aggression Questionnaire were used to assess children. Data was analyzed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient and independent t-test. Significance level was set at less than 0.05.Results: There was a negative and significant correlation among physical aggression, expressive language (p=0.008) and receptive language (p=0.019). Furthermore, more boys than girls expressed physical aggression (p=0.014). There was no a significant difference among boys and girls in expressive and receptive language skills.Conclusion: Intellectually disabled children with the low levels of expressive and receptive language skills are more likely to express physical aggression. Although poor expressive language skills of intellectually disabled girls facilitate to express physically aggressive behaviors, there was no any relation between language skills and physical aggression among boys with intellectual disability.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate facilitating and deterrent factors in learning practical skills from the viewpoints of the rehabilitation students of Isfahan University of medical sciences, third year onwards.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 100 senior students (third year onwards) of Orthotics and Prosthetics; Physiotherapy; Speech therapy and Occupational therapy selected through census sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire consisted 62 questions related to facilitating and deterrent factors in learning practical skills which contained 8 general areas. Questions were scored based on a five point likert scale. The data was analyzed by SPSS 18 software.Results: 100 senior students were recruited who had a mean age of 22.2±0.8 years. In terms of facilitating factors, students rated the areas of “Individual positive features of clinical teachers (85%)” and “Clinical teacher-student effective relationship (85%)” more effective in learning practical skills comparing to other facilitating areas. In terms of deterrent factors, students rated the areas of “Inadequate teaching resources of clinical departments (76%)” more deterrent in learning practical skills comparing to other deterrent areas.Conclusion: The most important facilitating factor in learning practical skills from the viewpoints of the rehabilitation students of Isfahan University of medical sciences was individual positive features of clinical teachers. Therefore planning to use experienced teachers for providing clinical training and also to develop structured continuing education programs for new clinical teachers is advised. The most important deterrent factor from the viewpoints of the rehabilitation students was inadequate teaching resources of clinical department and therefore planning to provide necessary equipments and other required teaching resources is crucial.

Introduction: Aging has been associated with increasing foot pronation and changes in foot mobility which may influence standing balance. Orthotic interventions change foot posture and load distribution under the foot and therefore may have important effects on balance in older people. To investigate whether a pronated foot posture is associated with poorer standing balance in older people and whether medial heel and sole wedge orthoses affect their standing balance.Materials and Methods: Nine healthy older people with a pronated foot posture (age 67.1±5.7 years) and Fourteen healthy elderly with normal foot posture (age 67.1±6.4 years) were recruited. The Foot Posture Index was used to determine the pronated (FPI 7.5±0.7) and normal (FPI 3.8±1.5) foot posture. Static balance in double limb stance was assessed using Kistler force plate measures during four random shod conditions: 1) 5o medial heel and sole wedge; 2) 8o medial heel and sole wedge; 3) 5oflat EVA base insole; 5) 8oflat EVA base insole. Each of the four cases was completed with eyes open (three trials) and eyes closed (three trials). The center-of-pressure (COP) mean excursion, total path length of COP, mean velocity of COP and area of 95% confidence ellipse were derived as measures of standing balance.Results: Participants with a pronated foot type demonstrated higher total and mean velocity excursion data in AP and ML directions, and larger ellipse, during normal standing, but this did not reach statistical significance (P>0.05). There were no statistically significant effects from the four orthoses designs in the pronated nor the normal foot types (P>0.05). Main effects for eye conditions were significant for center-of-pressure excursion and mean velocity in medial-lateral directions (P<0.001) also for total excursion and mean distance in anterior-posterior direction. Also there were no significant differences in interaction of all conditions (foot posture × eye condition × orthoses) (P>0.05).Conclusion: A trend towards less stable balance was observed in pronated foot type but this was not significant. Use of orthoses had no effect on balance parameters including negating the effects of eyes closed. Orthoses showed no negative effects on standing balance and therefore do not pose a threat to balance (e.g. if they are used for another purpose).

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis in the medial compartment is one of leading cause of limited activity in adults. Balance impairment has been reported in this group of patients. Laterally wedged insoles or footwear components have generally been shown to have immediate and long term beneficial effects on knee loading, pain and physical performance which may affect standing balance and posture control. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of four different designs of lateral wedges on static balance in patients with knee osteoarthritis.Materials and Methods: 18 females (age 59.6±5.8 years) with painful knee OA were recruited. Static balance was assessed using a force plate (AMTI, 1000 Hz) during 60s double leg standing. Movement of the center-of-pressure (COP) was measured under five shod randomized conditions: (1) no wedge; (2) 8.5 lateral heel wedge (inside shoe); (3) 8.5 o lateral heel and forefoot wedge (inside shoe); (4) 8.5 o lateral heel wedge (shoe sole); (5) 8.5 o lateral heel and forefoot wedge (shoe sole). Balance control was quantified using the amplitude and velocity of centre of pressure (COP) data.Results: Whilst there was a trend for COP parameters to decrease when wearing of the various lateral wedges compared to no-wedge condition, differences did not reach significance (p>0.05). The total mean distance over the 20 seconds, the 95% confidence circle area and 95% confidence ellipse area were all statistically significantly reduced when wearing the shoe sole lateral wedges compared to lateral heel wedge (inside shoe) (p<0.05).Conclusion: Balance was not affected by any of the lateral wedges. However, a trend was observed for COP parameters to decrease when wearing of the various lateral wedges compared to no-wedge condition which may suggest balance improvement. Greater improvement was observed wearing lateral shoe sole wedges.

Introduction: Hippotherapy is a physiotherapeutic method that has gained substantial attention in recent years. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review on the topic in order to descriptively summarizing the current state of knowledge in the field.Materials and Methods: In this Systematic review study, PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct and SID databases were searched from 1990 to 2012 using keywords "hippotherapy", "equine-assisted therapy", "horseback riding", "horse riding", and "therapeutic riding" and their Persian equivalents. 35 articles were finally included in the study and all of them reviewed by two of the authors. The results were extracted, summarized and reported in table format.Results: The mean of sample size of studies were 22.5. Mean length of the intervention period among the interventional studies was 13.16 week. Children comprised the most commonly recruited age group. The most commonly evaluated disability was cerebral palsy. In 33 studies (about 94% of all articles), hippotherapy was shown to be an effective intervention.Conclusion: According to results of this study, hippotherapy appears to be an effective rehabilitative modality. It may be applicable for managing various conditions such as cerebral palsy, trunk/head stability, multiple sclerosis and physical disabilities. Nevertheless, studies in this area are limited and further large-scale studies are recommended.

Introduction: Stroke or other nervous-system diseases may lead to long-lasting restrictions in motion and speech ability. Developments in the field of brain computer interface (BCI) make it possible to identify and classify electrical and metabolic brain activities and to convert them into control commands for computers or specific equipment.Materials and Methods: The general purpose of BCI is to recreate a previously lost ability or to improve a depleted ability in humans. Consequently, offering the possibility of moving the body limbs, recapturing speech ability and controlling different equipment for the accomplishment of daily tasksarethree major advantages of BCI systems. In order to assess how much progress has been made toward the application of BCI for these purposes, relevant papers presentedin prestigious journals and conferences were reviewed.Results: Concepts and fundamental principles of BCI and its associated technologies along with recent improvement sin BCI systems’ performance was presentedin this paper. Potentialusages of BCI systems and necessary strategies for enhancingtheir applicability in rehabilitation were also discussed.Conclusion: In the past 20 years, a great deal of effort has focused to the improvement of the efficiency and data transformation rates of EEG-based BCI systems via implementing a high-speed data exchange system between brain and computer. So far, various approaches forbuilding a real-time communication between brain commands and generated control commands are introduced.

Introduction: Lower limb amputations are caused by trauma, vascular disease, diabetes and congenital disorders. Amputees lose their ability to stand and walk based on the level of amputation. Various types of prosthesis have been used to increase function at these people. It is controversial whether prosthetic suspension system influence standing stability or not. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find the relationship between the above-mentioned factors and balance impairment in lower limb amputees.Materials and Methods: A healthy 48 years old man, with below knee amputation, was recruited in this study. A Kistler force plate with piezoelectric force transducer was used to measure displacements in center of pressure (COP). COP sway in mediolateral and antroposterior planes were measured during usage of two prosthesis system (traditional and silicone liner prosthesis).Results: The mean values of COP excursion during application of traditional prosthesis in anteroposterior (23.09±4.14 mm) and mediolateral (22.53±5.02 mm) planes during standing, with open eyes, were significantly higher than the similar mean values during usage of silicon linear prosthesis in the same planes (21.35±4.30mm and 15.5±4.30mm in anteroposterior and mediolateral planes, respectively).The mean values of COP excursion in anteroposterior and mediolateral planes during application of Foam socket were significantly higher than the similar mean values during usage of silicon linear prosthesis (p-value=0.03).Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the function of amputee in standing during usage of silicone linear prosthesis increases, as a result of improvement in proprioception and stimulation of superficial dermal receptors, compared to traditional prosthesis. Increased balance and proprioception are additional advantages of silicon linear prosthesis.