Impact of multiple levels of visual occlusion on static postural control

Stroboscopic vision (SV) is a novel modality that modulates visual input and can impair postural control due to the resulting visual occlusion. SV tools have multiple levels of visual occlusion (i.e. difficulty) but our understanding of how both instrumented and clinical measures of postural control are impacted by different levels of visual occlusion remain extremely limited. A systematic evaluation across multiple levels within the same cohort is necessary to understand the dose response that could be deployed in applied scenarios.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different levels of SV on instrumented and clinical measures of static postural control.

Thirty healthy individuals performed a single limb static balance task under six visual conditions: eyes open (EO), SV 2, SV 4, SV 6, and SV 8, and eyes closed (EC). Postural control was assessed via the 95 % confidence ellipse, center of pressure velocity, and a count of movement errors.

All levels of SV resulted in significantly worse objective static postural control relative to the EO condition (p < 0.001). SV levels resulted in 95 % confidence ellipse but not center of pressure velocity values that were comparable to EC balance. No differences were noted among levels of SV (p > 0.05) for instrumented postural control. Only SV 6 resulted in worse clinically measured balance relative to EO (p < 0.05).

All levels of visual occlusion impair postural control but impairment magnitude is dependent on the outcome measure. Instrumented outcomes are more sensitive to SV effects than clinical outcomes.