Effect of light touch on postural sway in individuals with balance problems: a systematic review

The aim of the present review was to examine the experimental, case-control studies that investigated the effect of light touch on postural sway in individuals with balance problems due to aging, brain lesion or other motor or sensory deficits. Articles published before the end of March of 2013 were searched in PubMed, Scielo and Lilacs databases using terms related to postural control and sensory information. Twelve studies that assessed the postural sway of individuals with balance problems during quiet standing with the light touch using a force plate were reviewed. Two reviewers rated all selected articles as having good quality. The effect of light touch on postural control was reported by all eligible studies regardless of the cause of the balance problem of the participants. Such effect was more evident when the applied vertical force was greater than 1N, but if individuals with poor balance took more advantage of the light touch than healthy ones it depended on the source of their balance problems and not the amount of the applied force. These findings suggested that the maintenance of the fingertip lightly touching an external surface could provide additional somatosensory information for individuals with poor balance and then it could be used as a strategy to improve the control of upright standing during intervention programs.