The relationship between single leg standing balance and threshold to passive movement detection at the ankle joint

• Main Author: Elliott, Brynne Lea
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/13800

The control of human standing balance is established through the integration of vestibular, visual and somatosensory input within the central nervous system (Horak & MacPherson, 1996). Proprioception, together with other sensory feedback systems (i.e., vestibular and visual), contribute to body awareness and equilibrium (Gauchard et al., 2001; Hegeman, 2005; Westlake, 2007). However, there are mixed views as to the exact role that proprioception might play in controlling standing balance, with some researchers arguing that balance training can cause improvements in proprioception (Ribot et al., 1986; Clark et al.,1993; Ashton-Miller et al., 2001; Verhagen et al., 2004). Thirty healthy participants were exposed to thirty threshold to passive movement (TPM) trials (15 inversion and 15 eversion), and six single leg standing trials. Threshold to Passive Movement TPM responses were measured at 0.25 degrees/second in the inversion and eversion direction in thirty participants. Pre and Post to the TPM measures, participants underwent three single leg standing trials on a force plate, with the aim of investigating the relationship between single leg standing balance and ankle proprioception in the inversion and eversion directions. The methodologies chosen for this experiment resulted in a failure to reject the null hypothesis, thus requiring further investigations to begin to fully understand the relationship between proprioception and standing balance.