How a plantar pressure-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback modifies postural control mechanisms during quiet standing.

Nicolas Vuillerme (1) , Nicolas Pinsault (1) , Olivier Chenu (1) , Matthieu Boisgontier (1) , Jacques Demongeot (1) , Yohan Payan (2)

1 TIMC-IMAG - Techniques de l'Ingénierie Médicale et de la Complexité - Informatique, Mathématiques et Applications, Grenoble - UMR 5525
2 TIMC-IMAG-GMCAO - Gestes Medico-chirurgicaux Assistés par Ordinateur

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of a plantar pressure-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback on postural control mechanisms during quiet standing. To this aim, sixteen young healthy adults were asked to stand as immobile as possible with their eyes closed in two conditions of No-biofeedback and Biofeedback. Centre of foot pressure (CoP) displacements, recorded using a force platform, were used to compute the horizontal displacements of the vertical projection the centre of gravity (CoGh) and those of the difference between the CoP and the vertical projection of the CoG (CoP-CoGv). Altogether, the present findings suggest that the main way the plantar pressure-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback improves postural control during quiet standing is via both a reduction of the correction thresholds and an increased efficiency of the corrective mechanism involving the CoGh displacements.

Mots clés: Balance; Biofeedback; Tongue Display Unit; Plantar pressure; Centre of foot pressure; Centre of gravity; Stabilogram-diffusion analysis; sensory substitution

Domaines: Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]; Neurosciences

Nicolas Vuillerme, Nicolas Pinsault, Olivier Chenu, Matthieu Boisgontier, Jacques Demongeot, et al.. How a plantar pressure-based, tongue-placed tactile biofeedback modifies postural control mechanisms during quiet standing.. Experimental Brain Research, 2007, 181 (4), pp.547-54. ⟨10.1007/s00221-007-0953-9⟩. ⟨hal-00172908⟩