Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2025
Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control
Published on: September 11, 2019
Tall Tales of Balance: The Influence of Height on Postural Control Measures
Kevin D Dames1, Sutton B Richmond2
1Biomechanics Laboratory, Kinesiology Department, State University of New York at Cortland, Cortland, NY, USA.
Background:
Increased sway within a stationary base of support (BoS) is often interpreted as worse postural control. However, larger persons may have larger feet, facilitating broader sway patterns within their wider/longer base. Time to boundary (TtB) incorporates foot placement dimensions into the calculation and, thus, may not be confounded by dissimilar anthropometric features.
Methods:
Ninety-seven healthy adults stood quietly on a force platform for 150 s with their feet together while barefoot. BoS characteristics, center of pressure motion, and TtB were calculated and correlated with body height for eyes open and closed conditions.
Results:
BoS width, length, and total area positively correlated with body height. Path length and sway area were positively correlated with height for both vision conditions, with stronger correlations observed with eyes closed. At the same time, TtB was not correlated with height in either visual condition. Consequently, the tallest 20 individuals in the sample displayed greater path length and sway areas but equal TtB as the shortest 20 persons.
Conclusion:
Observed differences in position-based center of pressure measures could be an artifact of body size inequality not postural (in)stability. Meanwhile, TtB is normalized to BoS and is, therefore, not confounded by anthropometric differences.
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