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Movement sway: changes in postural sway during voluntary shifts of the center of pressure

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Abstract

We introduce a method for quantification of movement sway—spontaneous migrations of the center of pressure (COP) during its voluntary shifts. Subjects stood on a force platform or on a board with a narrow support surface ("unstable board") and performed voluntary cyclic shifts of the COP at different frequencies. Movement sway was typically higher than postural sway; sway in the mediolateral direction was particularly increased. Movement sway showed a drop with the frequency of voluntary COP shifts. During standing on the unstable board, postural sway increased while movement sway decreased. The effects of task parameters were stronger on the sway component in the direction of the voluntary COP shift than in the orthogonal direction. We interpret changes in movement sway with task parameters as partly resulting from modulation of the search function of sway during voluntary COP shifts.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Vladimir Zatsiorsky for helpful discussions. The study was supported in part by NIH grants NS-35032 and AG-18751, and by a FAPESP/Brazil grant (#00/03624-5) to M. Duarte. S.S. Ferreira and S.A. Wieczorek are grateful to FAPESP for their scholarships (#01/03429-0 and #00/11363-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

    Mark L. Latash

  2. Escola de Educação Física e Esporte, Universidade de São Paulo, SP 05508-030, São Paulo, Brazil

    Sandra S. Ferreira, Silvana A. Wieczorek & Marcos Duarte

  3. Rec Hall-267, Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

    Mark L. Latash

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  1. Mark L. Latash
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  2. Sandra S. Ferreira
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  3. Silvana A. Wieczorek
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  4. Marcos Duarte
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Correspondence to Mark L. Latash.

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Latash, M.L., Ferreira, S.S., Wieczorek, S.A. et al. Movement sway: changes in postural sway during voluntary shifts of the center of pressure. Exp Brain Res 150, 314–324 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-003-1419-3

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