Evaluation of balance with test of strategies of balance on a force platform
Résumé
INTRODUCTION: In clinical practice, the balance is usually rated by various field tests involving distinct protocols and methodologies (FIGUEIREDO; LIMA, GUERRA, 2007). These tests are easy to use and of low cost, but are mostly subjective and of unkown results on how they correlate with the objective measures determined by posturography tests using a force platform (DUARTE; FREITAS, 2010). OBJECTIVE: The objective is to evaluate and to compare the displacement of the center of pressure (CP) of a healthy individual with an individual diagnosed with disease Ménièri through a force platform and after to connect with the reactive equilibrium strategy used. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this paper, the test of reactive strategies of balance (SHUMWAY-COOK, WOOLLACOTT, 1995) was applied within the support base on a force platform built in the laboratory of Biomechanics FEG/UNESP. The measure was made on two male volunteers, one 34 years old and healthy, and the other 54 years old diagnosed as Ménièri Disease. The angular variations between ankle and knee, knee and hip, and ankle and hip were also analyzed. Then, the results of displacement of the CP were compared and after they were associated with the reactive equilibrium strategy through the angular variation measurements used. The equipment used to capture and analyze data was a Spider 8 from HBM and the software used for signal processing was Catman Easy®. The test was recorded and its analysis was performed with ImageJ® software. RESULTS: The analysis of data showed that the healthy patient presented anteroposterior displacement larger than the one from the patient with the disease (135mm, 130mm, respectively) and both presented the same medial-lateral displacement (39mm). For the angular variation of the segments, they were larger in all segments in the individual with the disease, and the largest difference was observed in the knee/hip segment (2,6° on healthy individual and 7,6° on bearer of disease). CONCLUSION: These results suggests that the voluntary bearer of Ménièri Disease used an abnormal strategy of balance, using the knees and hips in order to keep the displacement of the center of pressure within his base of support, and that the healthy voluntary used the normal strategy. A wider study is necessary to achieve more consistent data, however it is already possible to draw a line of reasoning about the investigation. Other field tests will also be performed in order to verify the sensorial systems of more dependency and of less effectiveness for the maintenance of postural balance.
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