The effects of visual impairment on motor imagery in children and adolescents

A Narrative Review of Haptic Technologies and Their Value for Training, Rehabilitation, and the Education of Persons with Special Needs

Haptic technologies are increasingly valuable for human-computer interaction in its many flavors, including, of course, virtual reality systems, which are becoming very useful tools for education, training, and rehabilitation in many areas of medicine, engineering, and daily life. There is a broad spectrum of technologies and approaches that provide haptic stimuli, ranging from the well-known force feedback to subtile pseudo-haptics and visual haptics. Correspondingly, there is a broad spectrum of applications and system designs that include haptic technologies as a relevant component and interaction feature. Paramount is their use in training of medical procedures, but they appear in a plethora of systems deploying virtual reality applications. This narrative review covers the panorama of haptic devices and approaches and the most salient areas of application. Special emphasis is given to education of persons with special needs, aiming to foster the development of innovative systems and methods addressing the enhancement of the quality of life of this segment of the population.

Adapted Training to Boost Upper Body Sensorimotor Control and Daily Living Functionality in Visually Impaired Baseball Players

Background and Objectives: Vision significantly contributes to postural control, balance, coordination, and body kinematics, thus deeply influencing everyday functionality. Sight-impaired subjects often show upper body anatomofunctional and kinetic chain alterations negatively impacting daily living efficiency and autonomy. The present study aimed to investigate and train, for the first time, upper body sensorimotor control in an Italian blind baseball team to boost global and segmental functionality while contemporarily prevent injuries. Materials and Methods: The whole team underwent a validated test battery using both quantitative traditional tools, such as goniometric active range of motion and muscular/functional tests, and an innovative biofeedback-based device, a Libra proprioceptive board. Consequently, a 6-week adapted training protocol was designed and leaded to improve sensorimotor control and, hence, counteract disability-related deficits and sport-specific overuse syndromes. Results: Statistically significant improvements were observed in all the investigated parameters. Noteworthy, an overall boost of global and segmental stability was detected through an orthostatic dynamic balance enhancement during the Y Balance test (p = 0.01) and trunk multiplanar control improvement on the Libra board (p = 0.01). Concurrently, the comparison of baseline vs. post-intervention outcomes revealed a consistent increase in upper body mobility (p < 0.05 for all the assessed districts), core recruitment (p = 0.01 for all the administered functional tests), and proprioceptive postural control (p = 0.01 for the Libra board validated test). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a tailored sensorimotor training, conceived and led by an adapted physical activity kinesiologist, may effectively improve upper body functional prerequisites and global proprioceptive control, thus potentially promoting autonomy, quality of life, and physical activity/sport practice adherence in visually impaired individuals.

Physical activity and sport practice to improve balance control of visually impaired individuals: a narrative review with future perspectives

Visual disability negatively impacts balance, everyday self-efficacy, and mobility and often leads affected subjects to perceive physical exercise as a burdensome challenge thus discouraging them from practicing. Despite the well-proven benefits of regular physical activity in visually impaired people, especially addressing postural control, there are no specific guidelines and most of the available literature seems to be flawed by critical issues. Given the wide heterogeneity and the multidimensional needs of this population, a more realistic and target-specific perspective is needed in order to properly investigate and promote exercise practice and adherence for balance improvement. On this basis, through a critical overview of the recent literature, the present article aimed to enrich the current knowledge about this topic by providing innovative suggestions, both practical and methodological, and specifically deepening the disability-related deficits and peculiarities of different age ranges. Moreover, since a multidisciplinary approach is advisable when designing and leading exercise protocols tailored to visually impaired individuals, such innovative hints also highlighted the central role of the adapted physical activity specialist, hence contributing to foster its official professional recognition and involvement in this field.

Effect of Motor Imagery Training on Motor Learning in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: There is an urgent need to systematically analyze the growing body of literature on the effect of motor imagery (MI) training in children and adolescents. Methods: Seven databases and clinicaltrials.gov were searched. Two reviewers independently screened references and full texts, and extracted data (studies’ methodology, MI elements, temporal parameters). Two studies were meta-analyzed providing the standard mean difference (SDM). Selected studies were evaluated with the risk of bias (RoB) and GRADE tools. Results: A total of 7238 references were retrieved. The sample size of the 22 included studies, published between 1995 and 2021, ranged from 18 to 136 participants, totaling 934 (nine to 18 years). Studies included healthy pupils, mentally retarded adolescents, children with motor coordination difficulties or with mild mental disabilities. The motor learning tasks focused on upper, lower and whole body movements. SMDs for the primary outcome of pooled studies varied between 0.83 to 1.87 (95% CI, I², T² varied 0.33–3.10; p = 0.001; 0–74%; 0–0.59). RoB varied between some concerns and high risk. GRADE rating was low. Conclusions: MI combined with physical practice (PP) might have a high potential for healthy and impaired children and adolescents. However, important reporting recommendations (PETTLEP, TIDieR, CONSORT) should be followed. The systematic review was registered with PROSPERO: CRD42021237361.