How Spreading the Forefeet Apart Influences Upright Standing Control
in Motor ControlClick name to view affiliation
Resultant center-of-pressure (CP) displacements result along mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior (AP) axes from strategies mobilizing hips and ankles, respectively, and thus, should be largely influenced by the angles between the feet. To assess this relation and the effects of foot position on postural performance, 9 healthy young adults were tested. The main results, as the forefeet are spread farther apart (from 30° in endorotation to 120° in exorotation), indicate (1) a larger contribution of the estimated ankle mechanisms in the generation of the CP trajectories along the ML axis, (2) increased variances along the longitudinal axis of the feet, (3) a constant longitudinal pattern of the CP trajectories under each foot whose main axis displays a progressively increased angle with the inner borders of the feet, and (4) increased variances for CP displacements along both ML and AP axes. These data emphasize the importance of foot positioning in stance control, especially along the ML axis where spreading the forefeet apart progressively increases the contribution of the mechanisms mobilizing the ankles.
The author is with the Laboratoire de Modélisation des Activités Sportives, UFR CISM, Université de Savoie, Campus Scientifique de Savoie-Technolac, F 73 376 Le Bourget du Lac, France.
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