scholarly journals Comparison of two methods of postural control analysis during upright and quiet stance

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Forti Barela ◽  
Diego Alveno ◽  
Claudia Garcia ◽  
Cássio A. Pereira

The goal of this study was to compare two methods of analysis, the use of force platform and based on video system, to investigate the postural control of young adults during upright stance on three bases of support. Fifteen young adults (30±4.96 years old) were asked to maintain an upright and quiet stance on a force platform for 30 s on bipedal, semi-tandem stance, and reduced bipedal bases of support. One reflective marker was placed on their back to acquire the space coordinates. Mean sway amplitude and mean velocity in anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions and the area of stabilogram were calculated and used to compare the two methods of analysis and the effects of bases of support. Coefficient of correlation values indicated strong relation between trajectories of center of pressure and reflective marker in both directions (AP and ML), and statistical analysis of both methods indicated similar results in terms of effects of base of support. According to these results it might be suggested that both methods of analysis to investigate the control of upright and quiet stance in young adults can be used.  

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (10) ◽  
pp. 2638-2646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cédrick T. Bonnet ◽  
Arnaud Delval ◽  
Luc Defebvre

Patients with Parkinson's disease display impairments of postural control most particularly in active, challenging conditions. The objective of the present study was to analyze early signs of disease-related and also age-related impairments in mediolateral body extension and postural control. Fifty-five participants (18 Hoehn and Yahr stage 2 patients in the off-drug condition, 18 healthy elderly control subjects, and 19 young adults) were included in the study. The participants performed a quiet stance task and two active tasks that analyzed the performance in mediolateral body motion: a limit of stability and a rhythmic weight shift task. As expected, the patients displayed significantly lower and slower body displacement (head, neck, lower back, center of pressure) than elderly control subjects when performing the two body excursion tasks. However, the behavioral variability in both tasks was similar between the groups. Under these active conditions, the patients showed significantly lower contribution of the hip postural control mechanisms compared with the elderly control subjects. Overall, the patients seemed to lower their performance in order to prevent a mediolateral postural instability. However, these patients, at an early stage of their disease, were not unstable in quiet stance. Complementarily, elderly control subjects displayed slower body performance than young adults, which therefore showed an additional age-related impairment in mediolateral postural control. Overall, the study illustrated markers of age-related and Parkinson's disease impairments in mediolateral postural control that may constrain everyday activities in elderly adults and even more in patients with Parkinson's disease.


Motor Control ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-303
Author(s):  
Fawaz A. Alwadani ◽  
Huaqing Liang ◽  
Alexander S. Aruin

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of ankle angular position and standing surface type on static upright balance. Ten young adults stood on a force platform or on a firm wedge that induced 15° of either dorsiflexion or plantarflexion. In addition, a piece of foam was placed on top of the force platform and on the wedge. The center of pressure distance and velocity in the anteroposterior and mediolateral directions were calculated. Significantly larger magnitudes in most of the investigated variables were seen while standing with ankles in the dorsiflexion when compared with standing with the ankle joints in a natural position (p < .05). Plantarflexion increased the center of pressure anteroposterior velocity by 87% when compared with a natural stance (p < .05). Standing on the foam surfaces resulted in increases in all of the center of pressure measures by an average of 38% in all of the ankle conditions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Mazziotti Oliveira Alves ◽  
Rubens Alexandre da Silva Jr. ◽  
Luciano Moreira Rosa ◽  
Thiago Rosa de Mesquita ◽  
Paulo Rui de Oliveira ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Introduction: Postural control is a determining factor for functional performance and motor skills during sports activities. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate postural control during the controlled soccer ball kicking task through a biomechanical analysis system. Methods: The sample consisted of 11 professional male athletes recruited using convenience sampling, with a mean age of 22 years. The athletes performed twenty-five precision kicks at a target, with the ball in vertical motion released by means of a hand-held device synchronized with the computed biomechanical measurements. Marking of the lower limb segments involved in the kick and the ball were analyzed by accelerometry, while postural control measures were quantified by a force platform in three axes of movement. The support leg was investigated in single leg stance during all tests on the force platform. The main variables of postural control calculated by stabilographic analysis and computed during the 25 kicks were: center of pressure (COP) displacement area, velocity and frequency of COP oscillation in the anteroposterior and mediolateral directions. The mean was used for final analysis to determine the differences in the three phases: pre-kick, kick, and post-kick. Results: The results revealed significant differences (p <0.01) between the three phases, with the kick phase presenting higher values of postural COP oscillations than the other phases. The COP area and oscillation velocity were the variables with greatest sensitivity to changes in the kick phase, obtaining an effect size of d = 14 and d = 12, respectively. In clinical terms, the increase in COP values reached 557% between the pre-kick and kick phases; this difference was reduced to 241% when compared to post-kick (i.e., difference between kick and post-kick was 316%). Conclusion . These results have important implications for the perception of postural control responses during soccer ball kicks and consequently, for injury prevention when motor and sensory deficits are diagnosed in soccer players. Level of Evidence III; Study of nonconsecutive patients; without consistently applied reference ‘‘gold’’ standard.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Stemplewski ◽  
Janusz Maciaszek ◽  
Maciej Tomczak ◽  
Robert Szeklicki ◽  
Dorota Sadowska ◽  
...  

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of exercise on postural control (PC) among the elderly with lower or higher level of habitual physical activity (HPA). The study involved 17 elderly men (mean age 72.9 ± 4.79 years). Mean velocity of the center of pressure (COP) displacements was measured using a force plate both before and after cycle ergometer exercise. A significantly higher increase in mean velocity of COP displacements and its component in the sagittal plane were observed in the group with lower level of HPA in comparison with the group with higher HPA level. Simultaneously, a relatively similar reaction to the exercise in the frontal plane was observed in both groups, possibly connected to the specific type of used exercise, which mainly activated the sagittal muscles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Paulo Paes ◽  
Alaércio Perotti Junior ◽  
Ana Maria Forti Barela ◽  
José Angelo Barela

Abstract Introduction: Considered the second leading cause of death worldwide, stroke leads to several consequences resulting from the injury in regions responsible for the processing of sensorimotor information, leading to deficits in the maintenance and performance of postural control. Objective: To relate the performance of postural control during upright stance and a virtual reality task in post-stroke individuals. Method: Nine post-stroke individuals, aged 30 to 76 years, characterized by the Berg balance scale, Fugl - Meyer scale and Mini Mental State Examination participated in this study. Postural performance was measured by the center of pressure under bipedal conditions, in anteroposterior and mediolateral directions and unipedal with the affected and unaffected sides, using a force platform. Virtual reality performance was measured by distance and time required to perform a task in the Nintendo Wii®. Results: Revealed significant correlations between distance and displacement time of the affected side (distance x disc_affected = 0.667 | p = 0.025; time x disc_affected = 0.683 | p = 0.021) and between variables time and mean amplitude of mediolateral oscillation (time x amo_ml = -0.733 | p = 0.012), time and mediolateral and anteroposterior mean velocity (time x vm_ml = -0.617 | p = 0.038; time x vm_ap = -0.833 | p = 0.003) and between time and area (time x area = -0.633 | p = 0.034). Conclusion: the performance of standing postural control in post-stroke individuals, represented by measures of weight discharge and variables of postural control, presented a significant relation with the variables of virtual reality.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 2334-2343 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Winter ◽  
F. Prince ◽  
J. S. Frank ◽  
C. Powell ◽  
K. F. Zabjek

1. Control of posture in quiet stance has been quantified by center of pressure (COP) changes in the anterior-posterior (A/P) and medial-lateral (M/L) directions from a single force platform. Recording from a single force platform, researchers are unable to recognize two separate mechanisms that become evident when two force platforms are used. Depending on the stance position taken, many combinations of an ankle mechanism and a hip (load/unload) mechanism are evident. In side-by-side stance, A/P balance is totally under ankle (plantar/dorsiflexor) control, whereas M/L balance is under hip (abductor/adductor) control. In tandem stance, the A/P balance is dominated by the hip mechanism, with mixed and small or sometimes negligible contributions by the ankle plantar/dorsiflexors: for M/L balance, the reverse is evident; ankle invertors/evertors dominate, with mixed and small contribution from the hip load/unload mechanism. In an intermediate 45 degrees stance position, both ankle and hip mechanisms contribute to the net balance control in totally different ways. In the M/L direction the two strategies reinforce, whereas in the A/P direction the ankle mechanism must overcome and cancel most of the inappropriate contribution by the hip load/unload mechanism. A spatial plot of the separate mechanisms reveals the fact that the random-looking COP scatter plot is nothing more than a spatial and temporal summation of two separate spatial plots. A straight line joining the individual COPs under each foot is the load/unload line controlled by the hip mechanism. At right angles to this load/unload line in the side-by-side and tandem positions is the independent control line by the ankle muscles. In an intermediate standing position, the separate control lines exist, but now the ankle control is not orthogonal to the load/unload line; rather, it acts at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. The direction of these ankle control and load/unload lines also allows us to pinpoint the muscle groups responsible at the ankle and hip in any of the stance positions.


Author(s):  
Chantelle A. Nielson ◽  
Emily G. Deegan ◽  
Aaron S.L. Hung ◽  
Abraham J Nunes

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of sleep deprivation and rest on postural control. It was hypothesized that significant increases in COP deviations will occur after sleep deprivation. Methods. Four healthy adults (age= 21.50 years; mass= 68.93 kg) participated in two protocols involving sleep and sleep-deprivation. Within each condition multiple 40s impairments of visual, somatosensory, and/or vestibular sensory feedback were performed. Balance was quantified using root-mean-square (RMS) of the centre of pressure (COP) and COP Variance. Results. Two-way ANOVA demonstrated no significant effect of sleep deprivation on balance between sensory insults. Paired t-tests were performed nonetheless and revealed significant differences within the sleep-deprived condition. COP RMS and Variance were significantly greater medio-laterally with all systems impaired (ALL) (3.43 ± 0.63 mm, p


Author(s):  
Giselle Delgado ◽  
Chelsea Coghlin ◽  
Katelyn Earle ◽  
Andrea Holek ◽  
Kate O'Hare

Background. Falls can be extremely detrimental to someone’s daily living, as well as life threatening This is especially true for individuals who have back problems, are sedentary, and have other health disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of trunk extensor muscles fatigue on static postural control in young healthy adults compared to middle aged subjects. Methods. University students (n=10), and Middle-aged subjects (n=6; 40+ years of age) stood as immobile as possible on a force plate, with their feet together and eyes closed under two conditions; Fatigue and No fatigue. Fatigue was achieved through repetitive extensions of the trunk until a subjective fatigue level was reached. We measured center of pressure (CoP) displacements in the A/P and M/L planes using a force plate to assess standing balance. Findings. We did not observe any significant interaction between age and fatigue indicating that fatigue affected both age groups similarly. The CoP variability was higher for the middle aged compared to the young adults in both the fatigue and no-fatigue conditions. Interpretation. The results of this study indicate that trunk extensor fatigue does not affect balance differently for young compared to middle-aged subjects. This study also suggests that postural control decreases significantly with increasing age. Our finding that trunk extensor fatigue did not significantly affect the postural control of upright stance contradicts previous studies; this difference may be due to the subject sample in our study.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 374
Author(s):  
Pedro Fonseca ◽  
Manoela Sousa ◽  
Ricardo Sebastião ◽  
Márcio Goethel ◽  
Pierre Barralon ◽  
...  

Human postural control is a fundamental ability for static and dynamic tasks, especially in hiper- and hipo-functional populations, such as the elderly. The Equimetrix is a clinical device developed to assess both the base of support (BoS) and the center of mass (CoM) dynamics, thus allowing their use as new evaluation and training tools. This study aims to perform a criteria based validation of Equimetrix by comparing the BoS and CoM data with gold-standard equipment. A motion capture system, force platform, and pressure mat were used to calculate the CoM, center of pressure (CoP) and BoS during bipedal, unipedal, feet together and full tandem stances. Results demonstrate an excellent reliability of Equimetrix in terms of spatial accuracy of the CoM, although over-estimating the CoM height. Differences were found when comparing Mean velocity Path with the CoM, but not with the CoP, indicating a lower reliability in time-based parameters. The Equimetrix presents a tendency to overestimate the BoS, with mixed reliability values, which may be related to the different size of sensing elements between the Equimetrix and the pressure sensing mat. These are encouraging results that should be further explored during dynamic tasks.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Wachholz ◽  
Federico Tiribello ◽  
Arunee Promsri ◽  
Peter Federolf

Dual-tasking charges the sensorimotor system with performing two tasks simultaneously. Center of pressure (COP) analysis reveals the postural control that is altered during dual-tasking, but may not reveal the underlying neural mechanisms. In the current study, we hypothesized that the minimal intervention principle (MIP) provides a concept by which dual-tasking effects on the organization and prioritization of postural control can be predicted. Postural movements of 23 adolescents (age 12.7 ± 1.3; 8 females) and 15 adults (26.9 ± 2.3) were measured in a bipedal stance with eyes open, eyes closed and eyes open while performing a dual-task using a force plate and 39 reflective markers. COP data was analyzed by calculating the mean velocity, standard deviation and amplitude of displacement. Kinematic data was examined by performing a principal component analysis (PCA) and extracting postural movement components. Two variables were determined to investigate changes in amplitude (aVark) and in control (Nk) of the principal movement components. Results in aVark and in Nk agreed well with the predicted dual-tasking effects. Thus, the current study corroborates the notion that the MIP should be considered when investigating postural control under dual-tasking conditions.


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