Stroboscopic Vision to Induce Sensory Reweighting During Postural Control

Abstract

CONTEXT: Patients with somatosensory deficits have been found to rely more on visual feedback for postural control. However, current balance tests may be limited in identifying increased visual dependence (sensory reweighting to the visual system), as options are typically limited to eyes open or closed conditions with no progressions between. OBJECTIVE: To assess the capability of stroboscopic glasses to induce sensory reweighting of visual input during single-leg balance. DESIGN: Descriptive SETTING: Laboratory PARTICIPANTS: 18 healthy subjects without vision or balance disorders or lower extremity injury history (9 females; age = 22.1 ± 2.1 y; height = 169.8 ± 8.5 cm; mass = 66.5 ± 10.6 kg) participated. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects performed 3 trials of unipedal stance for 10 s with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC), and with stroboscopic vision (SV) that was completed with specialized eyewear that intermittently cycled between opaque and transparent for 100 ms at a time. Balance tasks were performed on firm and foam surfaces, with the order randomized. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ten center-of-pressure parameters were computed. RESULTS: Separate ANOVAs with repeated measures found significant differences between the 3 visual conditions on both firm (Ps=