Relationship among personal space, body image, postural balance regulation and proprioceptive integration areas

Abstract

In the present research we have examined 30 female undergraduate psychology students, in order to explore the relation between the percepion of the so called Personal Space and some process related to the body image and to some mechanisms hypothetically involved in the regulation of the postural balance, postural attitudes and proprioceptive muscular integrations. The personal space must be distinguished from the interpersonal one and should be considered as the space that subjects perceive around themself as a well defined area measurable in cm², as a structural component of the relationship body-environment. Metaphorically it could be defined as a ‘garden around the house”. About the proprioceptive integration area, clinical researches showed that bodily muscular tensions involved in the organization of postural balance, converge in specific areas of the body developing an irreplaceable support function. The postural balance was examined through a baropodometer, the level of tension of the proprioceptive integration area. Discussion is made about the interesting results that appeared between the different examined variables.