Effect of head position and visual condition on balance control in inverted stance.

Full Abstract

This study analyzed the effect of head position and visual condition on the control of balance in handstand, a gymnastics posture that necessitates adaptation of sensory information processing. Five expert gymnasts participated. Centre of pressure trajectories and kinematics of different body segments were recorded. The gymnasts were instructed to maintain three handstands as long as possible in four head positions, with and without vision. Performances and postural stability was much better in the standard and dorsiflexion positions than in the aligned and ventroflexion positions under the two conditions of vision. Performances were lower without vision in the standard and dorsiflexion position. If vision clearly plays an important role, yet the tonic neck reflexes also seem to contribute greatly to control body sways during inverted posture.

Author information

Author/s: Asseman, F (F); Gahéry, Y (Y);

Affiliation: Université de Provence/CNRS, Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Intégrative et Adaptative, 52 Faculté St-Jérôme, 13397 Marseille, Cedex 20, France. asseman(-atsign-)univ-tln.fr

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-Feb; vol 375 (issue 2) : pp 134-7

Dates: Created 2005/01/26; Completed 2005/04/22; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 15670656, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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