Independent effects of adding weight and inertia on balance during quiet standing

BioMedical Engineering OnLine

Kerry Elizabeth Costello²  Sara Louise Matrangola²  Michael Lawrence Madigan¹ 

[1] Engineering Science and Mechanics (0219), Virginia Tech – Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

[2] Virginia Tech – Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

关键词: Weight;    Mass moment of inertia;    Center of pressure;    Balance;   

Others  :  798098
DOI  :  10.1186/1475-925X-11-20

 received in 2012-01-23, accepted in 2012-04-04,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Human balance during quiet standing is influenced by adding mass to the body with a backpack, with symmetrically-applied loads to the trunk, or with obesity. Adding mass to the body increases both the weight and inertia of the body, which theoretically could provide counteracting effects on body dynamics and balance. Understanding the independent effects of adding weight and inertia on balance may provide additional insight into human balance that could lead to novel advancements in balance training and rehabilitation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the independent effects of adding weight and inertia on balance during quiet standing.

Methods

Sixteen normal-weight young adult participants stood as still as possible on a custom-built backboard apparatus under four experimental conditions: baseline, added inertia only, added weight only, and added inertia and weight.

Results

Adding inertia by itself had no measurable effect on center of pressure movement or backboard movement. Adding weight by itself increased center of pressure movement (indicated greater effort by the postural control system to stand as still as possible) and backboard movement (indicating a poorer ability of the body to stand as still as possible). Adding inertia and weight at the same time increased center of pressure movement but did not increase backboard movement compared to the baseline condition.

Conclusions

Adding inertia and adding weight had different effects on balance. Adding inertia by itself had no effect on balance. Adding weight by itself had a negative effect on balance. When adding inertia and weight at the same time, the added inertia appeared to lessen (but did not eliminate) the negative effect of adding weight on balance. These results improve our fundamental understanding of how added mass influences human balance.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Costello et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Chow DH, Kwok ML, Cheng JC, Lao ML, Holmes AD, Au-Yang A, Yao FY, Wong MS: The effect of backpack weight on the standing posture and balance of schoolgirls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and normal controls. Gait Posture 2006, 24:173-181.
• [2]Grimmer K, Dansie B, Milanese S, Pirunsan U, Trott P: Adolescent standing postural response to backpack loads: a randomised controlled experimental study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2002, 3:10. BioMed Central Full Text
• [3]Pau M, Pau M: Postural sway modifications induced by backpack carriage in primary school children: a case study in Italy. Ergonomics 2010, 53:872-881.
• [4]Rugelj D, Sevsek F: The effect of load mass and its placement on postural sway. Appl Ergon 2011, 42:860-866.
• [5]Schiffman JM, Bensel CK, Hasselquist L, Gregorczyk KN, Piscitelle L: Effects of carried weight on random motion and traditional measures of postural sway. Appl Ergon 2006, 37:607-614.
• [6]Cruz-Gomez NS, Plascencia G, Villanueva-Padron LA, Jauregui-Renaud K: Influence of obesity and gender on the postural stability during upright stance. Obes Facts 2011, 4:212-217.
• [7]Handrigan G, Hue O, Simoneau M, Corbeil P, Marceau P, Marceau S, Tremblay A, Teasdale N: Weight loss and muscular strength affect static balance control. Int J Obes (Lond) 2010, 34:936-942.
• [8]Menegoni F, Galli M, Tacchini E, Vismara L, Cavigioli M, Capodaglio P: Gender-specific effect of obesity on balance. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2009, 17:1951-1956.
• [9]Singh D, Park W, Levy MS, Jung ES: The effects of obesity and standing time on postural sway during prolonged quiet standing. Ergonomics 2009, 52:977-986.
• [10]Hue O, Simoneau M, Marcotte J, Berrigan F, Dore J, Marceau P, Marceau S, Tremblay A, Teasdale N: Body weight is a strong predictor of postural stability. Gait Posture 2007, 26:32-38.
• [11]Matrangola SL, Madigan ML, Nussbaum MA, Ross R, Davy KP: Changes in body segment inertial parameters of obese individuals with weight loss. J Biomech 2008, 41:3278-3281.
• [12]Ledin T, Odkvist LM: Effects of increased inertial load in dynamic and randomized perturbed posturography. Acta Otolaryngol 1993, 113:249-252.
• [13]Rosker J, Markovic G, Sarabon N: Effects of vertical center of mass redistribution on body sway parameters during quiet standing. Gait Posture 2011, 33:452-456.
• [14]Qu X, Nussbaum MA: Effects of external loads on balance control during upright stance: experimental results and model-based predictions. Gait Posture 2009, 29:23-30.
• [15]Gage WH, Winter DA, Frank JS, Adkin AL: Kinematic and kinetic validity of the inverted pendulum model in quiet standing. Gait Posture 2004, 19:124-132.
• [16]De Luca CJ, LeFever RS, McCue MP, Xenakis AP: Control scheme governing concurrently active human motor units during voluntary contractions. J Physiol 1982, 329:129-142.
• [17]Galganski ME, Fuglevand AJ, Enoka RM: Reduced control of motor output in a human hand muscle of elderly subjects during submaximal contractions. J Neurophysiol 1993, 69:2108-2115.
• [18]Sherwood DE, Schmidt RA: The relationship between force and force variability in minimal and near-maximal static and dynamic contractions. J Mot Behav 1980, 12:75-89.
• [19]Meriam JL, Kraige LG: Engineering Mechanics - Dynamics. 4th edition. Wiley, New York, NY; 1997.
• [20]Maurer C, Peterka RJ: A new interpretation of spontaneous sway measures based on a simple model of human postural control. J Neurophysiol 2005, 93:189-200.
• [21]Goh JH, Thambyah A, Bose K: Effects of varying backpack loads on peak forces in the lumbosacral spine during walking. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 1998, 13:S26-S31.
• [22]Winter DA: Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement. 3rd edition. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ; 2005.
• [23]Corriveau H, Hebert R, Prince F, Raiche M: Postural control in the elderly: an analysis of test-retest and interrater reliability of the COP-COM variable. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2001, 82:80-85.
• [24]de Freitas PB, Freitas SM, Duarte M, Latash ML, Zatsiorsky VM: Effects of joint immobilization on standing balance. Hum Mov Sci 2009, 28:515-528.
• [25]Teasdale N, Hue O, Marcotte J, Berrigan F, Simoneau M, Dore J, Marceau P, Marceau S, Tremblay A: Reducing weight increases postural stability in obese and morbid obese men. Int J Obes (Lond) 2007, 31:153-160.
• [26]Geurts AC, Nienhuis B, Mulder TW: Intrasubject variability of selected force-platform parameters in the quantification of postural control. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1993, 74:1144-1150.
• [27]Hufschmidt A, Dichgans J, Mauritz KH, Hufschmidt M: Some methods and parameters of body sway quantification and their neurological applications. Arch Psychiatr Nervenkr 1980, 228:135-150.
• [28]Maki BE, Holliday PJ, Topper AK: A prospective study of postural balance and risk of falling in an ambulatory and independent elderly population. J Gerontol 1994, 49:M72-M84.
• [29]Corbeil P, Simoneau M, Rancourt D, Tremblay A, Teasdale N: Increased risk for falling associated with obesity: mathematical modeling of postural control. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2001, 9:126-136.