Effect of vision, proprioception, and the position of the vestibular organ on postural sway

When measured together, it seems that vision and proprioception as well as position of the vestibular organ affect postural sway, vision the most. Mediolateral (ML) sway does not seem to be influenced by the position of the vestibular organ.

To investigate how postural sway was affected by provocation of vision, by the position of the vestibular organ, and by provocation of proprioception, when measured together.

Postural sway was measured by using a force plate. Tests were performed with eyes open and eyes closed, with head in neutral position and rotated to the right and to the left and with head maximally extended, both standing on firm surface and on foam. Measures of ML speed (mm/s), anteriorposterior (AP) speed (mm/s), and sway area (SA) (mm(2)/s) were analyzed using a multilevel approach.

The multilevel analysis revealed how postural sway was significantly affected by closed eyes and standing on foam, and by the position of the vestibular organ. Closed eyes and standing on foam both significantly prolonged the dependent measurement, irrespective of whether it was ML, AP or SA. However, only AP and SA were significantly affected by vestibular position, i.e. maximal head movement to the right and extension of the head.