Generation of Artificial Movement Sensation in Ankle Joints with Vibration Stimulation

It is known that both tonic vibration reflex and kinesthetic illusion are induced when vibration stimulation is given to a muscle. There is a possibility to generate artificial movement sensation if only kinesthetic illusion is properly induced and controlled. In this paper, fundamental study is carried out to generate artificial movement sensation in ankle joint by inducing only kinesthetic illusion without inducing the tonic vibration reflex to enhance balancing ability of a potential user such as an elderly person. Experiments are carried out to investigate whether kinesthetic illusion becomes dominant with certain vibration stimulation on tibialis anterior or Gastrocnemius to induce artificial movement sensation in ankle joint for balancing movement. The experimental results show that kinesthetic illusion becomes dominant with the vibration stimulation around 30 Hz and its time delay is 1–2 s.