Tendon Vibration Device

[Zheng Wang]

Dear all,

Are tendon vibration devices, such as the ones used in studies on
proprioceptive illusions, commercially available? I'd be grateful for advice
on that. Thank you.

[Tim Wrigley]

Re: Tendon Vibration Device

Dear all,

Are tendon vibration devices, such as the ones used in studies on
proprioceptive illusions, commercially available? I'd be grateful for advice
on that. Thank you.

I believe most groups have probably constructed their own devices. I have however seen a few clinical, therapeutic vibration devices commercially available that may or may not be suitable; they are not designed specifically to create the illusion. There was one non-magnetic research device that could be used in an MRI (eg for fMRI studies) but that company closed down.

Vibration motors are in all sorts of consumer devices (pagers, massagers, etc). They are usually just a mini motor with an eccentric mass attached. We found some on ebay and from electronic surplus.

https://www.surplustraders.net/motors/vibrator-motors

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Shell-DC-12V-3100RPM-Vibrating-Vibration-Motor-for-Massage-Cushion-/321806718977

Others have pulled them from xbox controllers.

Use a variable DC power supply and crank it up until the thing vibrates enough to elicit the illusion. Attach an accelerometer if you want to characterize its frequency characteristics.

Tim Wrigley
University of Melbourne

[Axel Knicker]

Re: Tendon Vibration Device

Hi,
a student of mine actually build a device for tendon and muscle vibration for his own study. He is now applying for patent here in Germany. I guess he would be happy to sell a beta version of it. You can contact him under >haitham_abdulhafiz@yahoo.com>. I have also forwarded your post to him. So he might even contact you personally.
Cheers

Axel
German Sport University Cologne

[Haitham Abdulhafiz]

Re: Tendon Vibration Device

Dear all,

Are tendon vibration devices, such as the ones used in studies on
proprioceptive illusions, commercially available? I'd be grateful for advice
on that. Thank you.

Hello Zheng Whang,

kinesthetic illusions can be induced by using vibration amplitudes between 0.2 and 0.5mm and frequencies above 30 Hz. Larger amplitudes tend to induce reflex muscular contraction, also known as tonic vibration reflex (TVR), and hence are not suitable for studying the psychophysical effects of the vibration.

To my knowledge, there are few commercial vibration devices that may meet the above-mentioned criteria.

Alternatively, you can use a modal exciter with a power amplifier to deliver the vibrations, which gives you the advantage of controlling the frequency and the amplitude independently. However, because of the heavy weight of the exciter, this method may only be suitable for stationary applications.

I have developed a new muscle vibration system during my master program at the German Sport University Cologne to overcome some of the limitations of the current methods. It will, however, take some time before the new design be commercially available.

Should you have any further queries, please send me an email to haitham_abdulhafiz@yahoo.com and I will be happy to answer your questions.

Cheers,
Haitham Abdulhafiz

[Marius Dettmer]

Re: Tendon Vibration Device

Hi Zheng,
we used the following in a number of studies: http://www.technoconcept.eu/shop/mob...e33langfr.html
The VB115 comes with a control box that you can connect to your PC to control onset, duration, bursts, etc. You can make a serial connection with several of those boxes and use them however you like. They work very well, specifically for movement illusions (I used them on the achilles tendon to induce sway). For MRI environments, we built our own device a long time ago based on a design that had been published in a technical paper (cannot think of it now). It was based on a compressor/air flow/fan device rotating an excentric weight inside a plastic cylinder.