Abstract
Purpose
Foot sole cooling increases vestibular-evoked balance responses, but less is known about foot dorsum temperature alterations. The purpose was to determine whether decreasing cutaneous receptor sensitivity via foot dorsum cooling modulates the vestibular control of balance.
Methods
Eighteen participants (9 males; 9 females) stood quietly on a force plate with feet together, eyes closed, and head rotated leftward during 4, 90-s trials (2 control; 2 cooled) of continuous electrical vestibular stimulation (EVS). Icepacks placed on the dorsum of both feet for 15 min induced cooling and remained throughout the EVS trials. Monofilament testing was performed at multiple locations before and after cooling to determine tactile detection thresholds. T-type thermocouples monitored skin temperature over the tibialis anterior, soleus, foot dorsum and arch of the right leg. Vestibular-evoked balance responses were characterized using time (cumulant density) and frequency (coherence and gain) domain analyses to determine the relationship between the EVS input and motor output (anteroposterior force—AP force; right medial gastrocnemius electromyography—MG EMG).
Results
Skin temperature of the foot dorsum and arch decreased ~ 70 and 15%, respectively during cooling (p < 0.05), but was unaltered at other locations (p ≥ 0.10). Detection thresholds for the foot dorsum increased following cooling (p < 0.05). Surprisingly, cooling reduced EVS-AP force and EVS-MG EMG coherence and gain at multiple frequencies, and peak-to-peak amplitude compared to control (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
Our results indicate that vestibular-driven balance responses are reduced following foot dorsum cooling, likely owing to alterations in cutaneous mechanoreceptor sensitivity and subsequent alterations in the transformation of vestibular cues for balance control.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all participants involved in the study.
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This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant Number: RGPIN-2017-06632).
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Conceptualization, MIBD, SSC, and BHD; methodology, MIBD, SSC, and BHD; formal analysis, MIBD, SSC, and BHD; investigation, MIBD and HJK; data curation, MIBD, HJK, SSC, and BHD; writing—original draft preparation, MIBD; writing—review and editing, MIBD, HJK, SSC, and BHD; supervision, BHD and SSC; funding acquisition, BHD; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Debenham, M.I.B., Kang, H.J., Cheung, S.S. et al. The influence of reduced foot dorsum cutaneous sensitivity on the vestibular control of balance. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 65–79 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05043-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05043-w