Abstract
Purpose
This study was aimed at determining the relationship between ankle plantar flexor force steadiness and postural control during single leg standing on stable and unstable platforms.
Methods
For the thirty-three healthy participants, force steadiness, at target torques of 5%, 20%, and 50% of the maximum voluntary torque (MVT) of the ankle plantar flexors, was measured. Force steadiness was calculated as the coefficient of variation of force. Single leg standing on stable and unstable platforms was performed using the BIODEX Balance System SD. The standard deviation of the anteroposterior center of pressure (COP) displacements was measured as the index for postural control. During both measurements, muscle activities of the soleus were collected using surface electromyography.
Results
On the stable platform, the COP fluctuation significantly correlated with force steadiness at 5% of MVT (r = 0.512, p = 0.002). On the unstable platform, the COP fluctuation significantly correlated with force steadiness at 20% of MVT (r = 0.458, p = 0.007). However, the extent of muscle activity observed for a single leg standing on both stable and unstable platforms was significantly greater than the muscle activity observed while performing force steadiness tasks at 5% and 20% of MVT, respectively.
Conclusion
Postural stability during single leg standing on stable and unstable platforms may be related to one’s ability to maintain constant torque at 5% and 20% of MVT regardless of the muscle activity. These results suggest that the required abilities to control muscle force differ depending on the postural control tasks.
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Abbreviations
- COP:
-
Center of pressure
- CV:
-
Coefficient of variation
- EMG:
-
Electromyography
- MVC:
-
Maximum voluntary contraction
- MVT:
-
Maximum voluntary torque
- RMS:
-
Root mean square
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellows (19J14772).
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All authors conceived and designed the research. TH conducted experiments. TH, MY, KM and JU analyzed data. TH wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the ethics committee of the Kyoto University Graduate School and Faculty of Medicine (R0548-1).
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Communicated by Lori Ann Vallis.
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Hirono, T., Ikezoe, T., Taniguchi, M. et al. Relationship between ankle plantar flexor force steadiness and postural stability on stable and unstable platforms. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 1075–1082 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04346-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04346-0