One-Leg Standing Performance and Muscle Activity: Are There Limb Differences?

• Autores: Thomas Muehlbauer, Claude Mettler, Ralf Roth, Urs Granacher
• Localización: Journal of applied biomechanics, ISSN-e 1543-2688, ISSN 1065-8483, Vol. 30, Nº. 3, 2014, págs. 407-414
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The purpose of this study was to compare static balance performance and muscle activity during one-leg standing on the dominant and nondominant leg under various sensory conditions with increased levels of task difficulty. Thirty healthy young adults (age: 23 ± 2 years) performed one-leg standing tests for 30 s under three sensory conditions (ie, eyes open/firm ground; eyes open/foam ground [elastic pad on top of the balance plate]; eyes closed/firm ground). Center of pressure displacements and activity of four lower leg muscles (ie, m. tibialis anterior [TA], m. soleus [SOL], m. gastrocnemius medialis [GAS], m. peroneus longus [PER]) were analyzed. An increase in sensory task difficulty resulted in deteriorated balance performance (P < .001, effect size [ES] = .57–2.54) and increased muscle activity (P < .001, ES = .50–1.11) for all but two muscles (ie, GAS, PER). However, regardless of the sensory condition, one-leg standing on the dominant as compared with the nondominant limb did not produce statistically significant differences in various balance (P > .05, ES = .06–.22) and electromyographic (P > .05, ES = .03–.13) measures. This indicates that the dominant and the nondominant leg can be used interchangeably during static one-leg balance testing in healthy young adults.