Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lee, Szu-Ping
• Bonczyk, Alexander
• Dimapilis, Maria Katrina
• Partridge, Sarah
• Ruiz, Samantha
• Chien, Lung-Chang
• Sawers, Andrew
• Harrison, Neil R.

Titel

Direction of attentional focus in prosthetic training: Current practice and potential for improving motor learning in individuals with lower limb loss

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2022-07, Vol.17 (7), p.e0262977

Ort / Verlag

San Francisco: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

EZB Free E-Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Adopting an external focus of attention has been shown to benefit motor performance and learning. However, the potential of optimizing attentional focus for improving prosthetic motor skills in lower limb prosthesis (LLP) users has not been examined. In this study, we investigated the frequency and direction of attentional focus embedded in the verbal instructions in a clinical prosthetic training setting. Twenty-one adult LLP users (8 female, 13 male; 85% at K3 level; mean age = 50.5) were recruited from prosthetic clinics in the Southern Nevada region. Verbal interactions between LLP users and their prosthetists (mean experience = 10 years, range = 4-21 years) during prosthetic training were recorded. Recordings were analyzed to categorize the direction of attentional focus embedded in the instructional and feedback statements as internal, external, mixed, or unfocused. We also explored whether LLP users' age, time since amputation, and perceived mobility were associated with the proportion of attentional focus statements they received. We recorded a total of 20 training sessions, yielding 904 statements of instruction from 338 minutes of training. Overall, one verbal interaction occurred every 22.1 seconds. Among the statements, 64% were internal, 9% external, 3% mixed, and 25% unfocused. Regression analysis revealed that female, older, and higher functioning LLP users were significantly more likely to receive internally-focused instructions (p = 0.006, 0.035, and 0.024, respectively). Our results demonstrated that verbal instructions and feedback are frequently provided to LLP users during prosthetic training. Most verbal interactions are focused internally on the LLP users' body movements and not externally on the movement effects.