Increased body sway at 3.5–8 Hz in patients with phobic postural vertigo

Postural sway during upright stance was analyzed in 12 patients with phobic postural vertigo (PPV) and in 12 age-matched healthy volunteers. Recordings were made under different conditions (with the eyes open or closed): when standing on a foam rubber pad with the head upright, turned 30 degrees to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 1999-01, Vol.259 (3), p.149-152
Main Authors: Krafczyk, Siegbert, Schlamp, Veronika, Dieterich, Marianne, Haberhauer, Peter, Brandt, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Body sway
Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Phobic Disorders - complications
Phobic Disorders - physiopathology
Phobic postural vertigo
Posture - physiology
Posturography
Power spectrum
Psychogenic vertigo
Space life sciences
Vertigo - physiopathology
Vertigo - psychology
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Summary:Postural sway during upright stance was analyzed in 12 patients with phobic postural vertigo (PPV) and in 12 age-matched healthy volunteers. Recordings were made under different conditions (with the eyes open or closed): when standing on a foam rubber pad with the head upright, turned 30 degrees to the right or left, or during 1 Hz horizontal head oscillations. Sway analysis included calculation of sway path, of root mean square values of sway and of the power spectrum of sway in fore/aft and lateral directions. There was a significant increase in sway activity in the 3.53–8 Hz frequency band in patients with PPV. This did not impair objective postural stability. Increase in higher frequency sway activity may simply reflect a change in postural strategy rather than a sensorimotor dysfunction. The patients' conscious control of stance may augment co-activation of anti-gravity muscles, a strategy applied by normal subjects when performing demanding balancing tasks.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/S0304-3940(98)00917-3