@article{ref1,
title="Effects of external focus of attention on balance: a short review",
journal="Journal of physical therapy science",
year="2015",
author="Park, Sun Hee and Yi, Chae Woo and Shin, Ju Yong and Ryu, Young Uk",
volume="27",
number="12",
pages="3929-3931",
abstract="[Purpose] The present study reviewed studies that examined the effects of attentional focus on balance.   [Methods] Keywords such as &quot;attentional&quot;, &quot;focus&quot;, and &quot;balance&quot; were used to find relevant research papers in PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). Forty-five papers were found, and 18 of them were used for this study, excluding review papers and papers irrelevant to the topic of this study.   [Results] Among the papers used for the review, the number of papers in which external focus produced effective outcomes was 15 (83.3%). The number of papers in which both external and internal focus produced effective outcomes was 2 (11.1%). The number of paper in which no instruction about attentional focus was effective was 1 (5.5%), and the number of papers in which internal focus was effective was zero.   [Conclusion] This short review suggests clinical implications about how physical therapists can use attentional focus for balance rehabilitation of patients. Instructions about external focus of attention can generally be useful as a method to improve posture and balance control. Furthermore, the present reviews indicates that external focus of attention would be more useful in a rehabilitation stage in which the difficulty level of balance performance is gradually increased.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0915-5287",
doi="10.1589/jpts.27.3929",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.3929"
}