Measurement of the visual contribution to postural steadiness from the COP movement: methodology and reliability

We studied the reliability of different measures of the visual contribution to postural steadiness by recording the postural sway during standing with eyes open (EO) or eyes closed (EC). The COP trajectory was recorded in 21 subjects aged 42-61 standing on a firm or foam support. The improvement of postural steadiness due to vision was measured with a higher reliability (i.e. lower intra- and inter-subject variabilities) with the sway velocity V, than with the position RMS. Due to the increase of the variability of V and RMS with their own mean values, we quantified the visual contribution to posture by the stabilization ratio (SR), based on a logarithm transform of V or RMS. As compared to the Romberg quotient (EC/EO), SR improved the reliability of the measurement of the visual contribution to posture within individuals, across subjects, and even across different studies in the literature. Our method led to decrease the inter-subject coefficient of variation of this measurement to about 25%, using a foam support. It leads to a similar accuracy in binocular and monocular vision, and it also applies to the quantification of other non-visual sensory contributions to posture.