Regularity of Center of Pressure Trajectories in Expert Gymnasts during Bipedal Closed-Eyes Quiet Standing (original) (raw)
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Asymmetry of recurrent dynamics as a function of postural stance
Experimental Brain Research, 2012
This experiment was setup to investigate the deterministic and stochastic properties of the recurrent dynamics of the center of pressure trajectories of each leg (COP left and COP right ) and whole-body (COP net ) as a function of different foot positions in postural stance (sideby-side, staggered, and tandem standing) and the availability of visual information. The foot position of postural stance can induce degrees of asymmetry of postural instabilities as well as load on each leg that it was hypothesized would influence the deterministic and stochastic properties of COP fluctuations of each leg and of COP net . Young adults performed two 60 s trials of quiet standing at each posture-vision condition. The availability of visual information increased COP path length, but had no effect on the recurrent dynamics of COP trajectories. Recurrence quantification analysis showed that recurrence, determinism, and entropy were dependent on the direction (AP/ML) of COP motion and foot position during postural stances. The degree of asymmetry between the left and right leg COP dynamics differed across all postural stances and COP net dynamics were more similar to those of the more loaded leg. The cross-recurrence quantification analysis also revealed asymmetries in the coordination coupling of AP/ML under each leg; although, these differences were markedly reduced in tandem postures. The findings support the postulation that the asymmetry generated through mechanical constraints (foot position and load) is related to asymmetrical recurrent dynamics of the individual leg and COP net based on the degree of postural instability.
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Postural control research describes ankle-, hip-, or multi-joint strategies as mechanisms to control upright posture. The objectives of this study were, first, development of an analysis technique facilitating a direct comparison of the structure of such multi-segment postural movement patterns between subjects; second, comparison of the complexity of postural movements between three stances of different difficulty level; and third, investigation of between-subject differences in the structure of postural movements and of factors that may contribute to these differences. Twenty-nine subjects completed 100-second trials in bipedal (BP), tandem (TA) and one-leg stance (OL). Their postural movements were recorded using 28 reflective markers distributed over all body segments. These marker coordinates were interpreted as 84-dimensional posture vectors, normalized, concatenated from all subjects, and submitted to a principal component analysis (PCA) to extract principal movement components (PM). The PMs were characterized by determining their relative contribution to the subject's entire postural movements and the smoothness of their time series.
Experimental Brain Research, 2012
The study of quiet standing has mainly been conducted in the foot side-by-side position with the assumption that the contribution of the lower limbs is structurally and functionally equivalent. The purpose of this study was to examine how the two mechanical factors of foot position and weight distribution interact to influence postural control and inter-leg coordination dynamics. Participants were required, while standing in either a side-by-side, staggered, or tandem right foot forward position, to intentionally produce three different levels of weight distribution (50/50, 30/70, and 70/30) over the two feet. Our results showed that the interaction effects of the two mechanical constraints were represented in both linear and nonlinear analyses. The center of pressure (COP) mean velocity was predominantly influenced by body weight distribution in the side-by-side stance, whereas foot position was more influential in the tandem stance. The nonlinear analysis showed that the least experienced postural condition (i.e., tandem stance with a 70/30 loading level) had the lowest number and total duration of COP L -COP R phase synchronization epochs in the AP direction that were compensated by ''stable'' coordination dynamics in the ML direction. The findings revealed that the staggered stance represents a ''hybrid'' blend of the properties of the side-by-side and tandem foot positions. Collectively, foot position and weight distribution interact to determine the stability and flexibility of inter-leg coordination dynamics in postural control.
Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics
Purpose: This study examined the use of nonlinear measures – sample entropy (SampEn), fractal dimension (FD), and the Lyapunov exponent (LyE) – to evaluate postural control in adults during standing on an unstable surface, with and without visual feedback. Methods: 14 healthy young adults (24.07 ± 7.32 years) completed bipedal standing trials on an unstable-plate Biodex Balance System (BBS) connected to a Vicon system, with eyes open and closed. Each trial lasted 20 sec. Analysis was performed based on the center of mass (CoM), for which the three nonlinear measures were calculated. Results: Excluding visual feedback was found to cause a significant increase in linear and nonlinear parameters. Moreover, SampEn and FD values were found to be significantly higher in the PD direction, compared to AP or ML, whereas LyE values in this direction were minimal. Conclusions: Results show that the three nonlinear measures provide a useful way of evaluating postural control in healthy adults. ...