Citation

Wojciechowska-Maszkowska B, Borzucka D. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(2): e490.

Affiliation

Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Opole University of Technology, 45-758 Opole, Poland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17020490

PMID

31940987

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of additional load on postural-stability control in young women. To evaluate postural control in the 34 women in this study (mean age, 20.8 years), we measured postural sway (center of pressure, COP) in a neutral stance (with eyes open) in three trials of 30 s each. Three load conditions were used in the study: 0, 14, and 30 kg. In analysis, we used three COP parameters, variability (linear), mean sway velocity (linear), and entropy (nonlinear).

RESULTS suggested that a considerable load on a young woman's body (approximately 48% of body weight) had significant influence on stability. Specifically, heavy loads triggered random movements, increased the dynamics of postural-stability control, and required more attention to control standing posture. The results of our study indicate that inferior postural control mainly results from insufficient experience in lifting such a load.

Language: en

Keywords

external load; posturography; stability control; women