# Restoring Proprioception to Improve Balance and Gait in Lower-Limb Amputees

> **NIH NIH F30** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2021 · $30,036

## Abstract

Abstract
 Lower-limb amputees can suffer from a wide range of gait impairments, ranging from
compensatory movements to a substantially higher fall risk than the average population. This
increased fall risk can be partially attributed to reduced or complete lack of tactile and
proprioceptive feedback from the prosthetic limb. There has been significant recent interest in
providing sensory feedback via sensorized neuroprostheses. However, these studies have
primarily focused on restoring tactile feedback in upper-limb amputees. The aim of this study is
to provide natural proprioceptive feedback in lower-limb amputees through lumbosacral spinal
cord stimulation (SCS). Experiments will be conducted as an addition to an ongoing NIH-funded
project using FDA-cleared SCS leads implanted percutaneously into the lateral lumbar epidural
space. To determine the parameters required to evoke naturalistic percepts of joint motion, we
will first evaluate the effects of stimulus patterning on the naturalness of evoked proprioceptive
sensations. Using an adapted cross-modal congruency effect (CCE) test as a proxy for
naturalness, we will quantify which stimulation patterns (constant frequency or biomimetic)
create a more natural percept, as indicated by a higher CCE score. To evaluate the effect of
stimulation on the subject’s ability to incorporate these percepts as proprioception, we will use a
variety of stimulation patterns with varying degrees of naturalness and evaluate the
proprioceptive accuracy for either static or dynamic percepts. We will also study the effect of
evoked proprioceptive sensations on improving gait and function using a sensorized prosthesis
to provide real-time feedback about joint angles. We will use both clinical and scientific
measures of proprioception and gait function to evaluate the efficacy of stimulation. We
hypothesize that more natural sensations of proprioception will provide greater accuracy in
clinical tests of proprioception and greater improvements in more complex motor control tasks,
such as gait, thereby improving the mobility and safety of lower-limb amputees.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10153832
- **Project number:** 5F30HD098794-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Bailey Anne Petersen
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $30,036
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10153832

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10153832, Restoring Proprioception to Improve Balance and Gait in Lower-Limb Amputees (5F30HD098794-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10153832. Licensed CC0.

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