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Updated: Oct 3, 2025
Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control
Published on: September 11, 2019
Static and dynamic postural control of postpartum women of different delivery methods
1Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hitit University, Çorum, Turkey.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in postural control between nulligravida women and women who have given birth by vaginal or cesarean section.
Methods:
Women who had only vaginal delivery in the previous 1-3 years were included in the vaginal delivery group (n = 27), those who had only cesarean delivery in the previous 1-3 years were included in the cesarean section group (n = 28), and those who had never given birth were included in the control group (n = 32). Evaluations were administered 6-8 days after the ovulation phase. Postural control of the participants was evaluated with the computerized dynamic posturography device.
Results:
A total of 87 women with a mean age of 29.4 ± 4 years and a mean body mass index of 24.1 ± 3.1 kg/m2 were included in the study. Antero-posterior somatosensory organization test values of the vaginal delivery group were lower than the control group (p = 0.0016). The cesarean delivery group had statistically lower antero-posterior somatosensory (p < 0.001 and p = 0.0013) and medio-lateral somatosensory (p = 0.002 and p = 0.017, respectively) test scores compared to the control group and the vaginal delivery group.
Conclusions:
It was observed that women who birthed with vaginal or cesarean delivery had impaired somatosensory postural control. There is definitely a need for further studies with a long-term follow-up examining the effects of postural control during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
