Our body takes a lot of pain to make sure that we stay upright. It is a process in which the nervous system collects sensory information from all over the body like skin, ears, feet, arms, eyes and transmits this information to the muscles that control balance. Any sudden changes like a strong wind, or an accidental bump from a nearby stranger, the nervous system sends the new information to the muscles and they adjust accordingly to maintain the body’s balance. Georgia Tech and Emory researchers developed an effective way to interpret how commands from the nervous system to muscles are changed by sensory impairment and how these changes affect balance control. With an aim towards creating robots that can balance like humans, researchers have designed a computer simulation that sheds new light on how the nervous system reinvents its communication with muscles after sensory loss.

The findings could someday be used to better diagnose and rehabilitate patients with balance problems through normal aging or diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s by retraining their muscles and improving overall balance.
Source