Asymmetry of Body Weight Distribution During Quiet and Relaxed Standing Tasks

The goal of this work was to investigate body weight distribution during relaxed and quiet (constrained) standing tasks. Forty-one healthy, young adults performed relaxed and quiet standing tasks, and they stood with each leg on a separate force plate. The weight distribution asymmetry across time was computed as the difference between the right and left vertical force time series. The subjects presented a small average across time asymmetry during relaxed and quiet standing. However, during relaxed standing, the subjects alternated between postures, and, as a result, they were largely asymmetrical over time (instant by instant). Two unexpected results that the authors found for the relaxed standing task were that women were more asymmetrical over time than men and that there were two preferential modes of weight distribution.