Posturographic characteristics of the standing posture and the effects of the treatment of obesity on obese young women

Abstract

To determine the impact of body weight on quiet standing postural sway characteristics in young women, this research compared spontaneous oscillations of the center of foot pressure (COP) between 32 obese (BMI: 36.4 ± 5.2 kg/m 2 ), and 26 normal-weight (BMI: 21.4 ± 1.5 kg/m 2 ) women and assessed the influence of obesity treatment and body weight reduction on postural sway. Trajectories of the COP were assessed while the subjects were standing quietly with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC). Both in the sagittal (AP) and frontal (ML) planes the sway range, average velocity, and maximal velocity of COP were calculated. Moreover, the total average and maximal velocities were computed. In the obese group, the tests were performed twice–before and after the obesity treatment. A greater (18% in EC) AP sway range and a substantial reduction of ML sway (25% in EO, 22% in EC) were observed in the obese women. The total COP velocities (average and maximal) were decreased in obese women (20% and 20% in EO) as well as the velocities in the frontal plane (EO: 33%, 41%; EC: 34%, 40%). Body weight reduction resulted in significant changes in postural sway. The following parameters increased: ML sway range (28% in EO), average (20% in EO, 16% in EC) and maximal ML (20% in EO) velocities. The results indicate that young obese women in the habitual standing position are characterized by the destabilizing influence of mass in the sagittal plane only in the absence of a visual control. This effect is dominated by the stabilizing mass effect in the frontal plane, which affects overall postural stability when standing. The reduction of body mass enables a decrease in ML static stability, likely due to natural changes in the base of support while standing.

New methods of posturographic data analysis may improve the diagnostic value of static posturography in multiple sclerosis

“…These unique for MS changes could be also observed in Sway Vector azimuth (SVaz). This pattern of changes is different from normal, age-matched, healthy adults (Błaszczyk and Cie sli nska-Swider, 2019;Cie sli nska-Swider and Błaszczyk, 2019).…”

“…Redundancy and interaction of proprioceptive, visual, vestibular systems ensure erect posture stability while the postural sway does not interfere with the control. In young healthy adults, even turning off the visual input does not interfere with the postural control ( Błaszczyk and Cieślińska-Świder, 2019 ; Cieślińska-Świder and Błaszczyk, 2019 ). Eyes closure results in a limited and statistically insignificant increase of postural sway.…”

“…For analysis purposes, the patients' data were grouped according to their EDSS scale. Results of static posturography tests from age- and sex-matched group of the healthy subjects were used as reference data ( Błaszczyk and Cieślińska-Świder, 2019 ; Cieślińska-Świder and Błaszczyk, 2019 ). The data are gathered in Table 1 .…”

Balance Control in Obese Subjects during Quiet Stance: A State-of-the Art

“…Women with abdominal obesity seem to exhibit greater postural instability in comparison with women with gynoid fat distribution. In another study conducted by the same authors [8] on young obese women, they found that participants exhibited sagittal plane postural instability only with their eyes closed. After body weight reduction, ML static stability decreased, directly connected to a change in the base of support.…”

“…This multimodal (integrating visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs) and redundant control causes chaotic center of mass (CoM) oscillations known as postural sway [6][7][8]. In clinics the quality and integrity of balance control is generally assessed using various measures of postural sway [6].…”