Cortical activation during balancing on a balance board.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Motor Control
• Biomechanics

Background:

• Balance control is a complex motor task integrating sensory information, relying on higher cortical processes.
• Previous research primarily used virtual reality, with limited understanding of cortical activation during real-world unstable surface balancing.
• Balancing on unstable surfaces like a balance board presents unique challenges for sensorimotor integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simultaneously evaluate cortical activation patterns and body sway during balance board tasks.
• To investigate the neural correlates of maintaining balance on an unstable surface.

Main Methods:

• Ten healthy adults performed balancing tasks on a balance board.
• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured brain activation in the supplementary motor area (SMA), precentral gyrus (PrG), and postcentral gyrus (PoG).
• An inertial sensor recorded pelvic sway parameters (medio-lateral and anterior-posterior) simultaneously.

Main Results:

• Balancing on the board showed enhanced activation in SMA, PrG, and PoG compared to standing still.
• Pelvic sway, measured by root mean square, increased in both medio-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) directions during balancing.
• A significant negative correlation was observed between SMA activation and ML sway during balancing, but not during standing.

Conclusions:

• Sensorimotor cortical areas, particularly SMA, play a vital role in balance control.
• The findings suggest SMA is crucial for online control of medio-lateral sway during balancing.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the contribution of other brain regions to online balance control.