Relationship between the Ability to Sit on a Balance Cushion and Parameters of One Leg Standing

Abstract

[Purpose] In order to investigate whether sitting on a balance cushion (BC) can be used as an assessment method for the trunk, we examined the relationship between ability to sit on a balance cushion and center of pressure (body) sway in one leg standing.[Subjects] The subjects were 93 healthy young women with no balance disorders or decline in muscle strength. [Method] We assessed sitting ability on the BC of 85 subjects without balance disorders or muscle enervation, allocating 14 to an unstable balance (USB) group and 20 to a stable balance (SB) group, and measured sway path length (SPL) and the area of envelope (AoE) body sway by one leg standing on the dominant leg of these 34 subjects.[Results] The AoE was significantly smaller in the SB group, but no significant difference was found in the SPL between the two groups.[Conclusion] The results suggest that since body sway was small when BC sitting ability was high, BC sitting can be used as an index to assess trunk cooperation.