Quantifying Balance with Stabilometry
Biomechanics (fall 2023)
Introduction:
In this lab we determined the effect of various sensory conditions on balance. The different conditions include; all sensory systems intact, impaired visual feedback, impaired visual and vestibular feedback, impaired proprioceptive system, and all sensory systems impared.
Methods:
For the first part of the experiment I stood on the force platform with my eyes closed for 30 seconds, the impaired visual feedback condition. Using this data that was collected, I made a stabilogram along with finding the change in COP velocity.
In the second part of the experiment we had three different participants stand on the force platform. This is where we tested the five different sensory conditions. To simulate impaired visual feedback we had the subject close their eyes. For the impaired vestibular feedback we had the subject orient their head backward. Finally for the proprioceptive system we had the subject stand on a pad.
After getting the data back, we calculated the change in COP mean velocity for each of the different conditions and compared them to see which conditions had the largest and smallest influence on balance.
Results:
Graph 1: Stabilogram
This graph is the stabilogram from part 1 of the lab. It shows the minimal movement that occurs when standing up straight with my eyes closed.
Graph 2: Bar Chart
This graph shows the five different sensory conditions in which the subjects were tested. The bars represent the average of the 3 subjects for the 5 trials. It also shows the standard deviation of each of the different conditions.
Discussion:
Graph 1 displays the stabilogram from part one of the experiment. Although at first glace the graph does not look very stable, if you look at the units the movements are actually very small. It is less than 1cm in any direction. The COP velocity is 0.796658 cm/s which is also super small. These tiny movements wouldn’t really be seen with the naked eye. The error would be that we did not do a trial where I stood on the force plate with my eyes open, so we don’t have anything to compare this data to.
Graph 2 displays the change in COP mean velocity during the different trials with different sensory conditions. From this we can determine that all sensory systems impaired has the most detrimental impact on balance. We can also determine that either impaired visual feedback or vestibular feedback has the largest influence on balance because combined they have the highest change in COP mean velocity. Finally, impaired proprioceptive system has the smallest influence on balance because it has the lowest COP mean velocity of the different trials.
If we were to do this experiment again I would test each system on its own before combining them together in different pairings so we could have gotten a better picture on the exact influence of each system.