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Effect of light finger touch on postural sway after lower-limb muscular fatigue
Nicolas Vuillerme1, Vincent Nougier
1Université Joseph Fourier-Grenoble 1, France. nicolas.vuillerme@uif-grenoble.fr
Objective:
To investigate whether a light finger touch can compensate for the increased postural sway induced by lower-limb muscular fatigue.
Design:
Before-after trials.
Setting:
General community.
Participants:
Nine healthy university students (mean age, 23.8+/-2.6y; mean body weight, 72.7+/-6.9 kg; mean height, 177.2+/-7.5 cm).
Interventions:
Participants stood with their feet together and eyes closed. They were asked to sway as little as possible in 4 conditions: no fatigue/no touch, no fatigue/touch, fatigue/no touch, and fatigue/touch. Calf muscle fatigue was induced by having participants stand on their toes until exhaustion. Touch conditions involved a gentle light touch with the right index finger on a nearby surface at waist height.
Main Outcome Measures:
Center of pressure displacements were recorded by using a force platform.
Results:
Light finger touch resulted in decreased postural sway in the no-fatigue and fatigue conditions. Interestingly, this stabilizing effect was more accentuated in the fatigue condition.
Conclusions:
Results suggest that the contribution of the haptic cues from the finger for regulating postural sway increases after muscular fatigue. These findings could have implications in clinical and rehabilitative areas.
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