Importance of optic flow for postural stability of male and female young adults

Purpose A feedback control process based on self-motion perception contributes to postural stability; however, little is known about the visual modulation of postural muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of optic flow stimuli, presented full field, in the peripheral and fovea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of applied physiology 2014-01, Vol.114 (1), p.71-83
Main Authors: Raffi, Milena, Piras, Alessandro, Persiani, Michela, Squatrito, Salvatore
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Electromyography
Female
Females
Gender differences
Human Physiology
Humans
Kinematics
Male
Males
Mechanical properties
Muscle Contraction
Muscle function
Muscle, Skeletal - innervation
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine
Optic Flow
Original Article
Postural Balance
Posture
Sex Factors
Sports Medicine
Young adults
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Summary:Purpose A feedback control process based on self-motion perception contributes to postural stability; however, little is known about the visual modulation of postural muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of optic flow stimuli, presented full field, in the peripheral and foveal visual field, on muscular activation. Then, we assessed the correlation between optic flow, muscle activity and body sway in male and female subjects. Methods We used surface electromyography (EMG) and stabilometry on 24 right-handed young adults. We recorded the bilateral activation of tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius medialis, biceps femoris and vastus medialis. EMG and center of pressure (COP) signals were acquired simultaneously. EMG signal amplitude was computed as root mean square normalized by baseline. Results We found a significant effect for muscles, gender and an interaction effect of muscle by gender (ANOVA, p  
ISSN:1439-6319
1439-6327
DOI:10.1007/s00421-013-2750-4