[On the assessment of the vertical posture support function based on the results of dynamic posturography]

A group of healthy subjects (n=93) was enrolled in the study designed to obtain the main characteristics of the postural function under effect of polymodal sensory afferentation. The study was carried out with the use of a dynamic stabilometric platform that served to estimate the vertical posture support function by means of an original diagnostic algorithm based on the main principles biological feedback priniciples. The study revealed two types of responses to polymodal afferentation, cortical and subcortical (reflective). The "cortical" type is characterized by slow responses due to the fact that the mechanism of sensory afferentation implies that an impulse has to pass along the entire conducting pathway from the primary receptor cell to the cortical centres that arbitrarily control the posture. The "subcortical" (reflective) mechanism ensures rapid but poorly selective responses to polymodal afferentation. The method for diagnostics of postural problems described in this paper with the use of a dynamic (mobile) stabilometric platform is expected to extend the possibilities for the quantitative evaluation of the vertical posture support function.