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. 2017 Jul 26;4(7):161018.
doi: 10.1098/rsos.161018. eCollection 2017 Jul.

Balance control strategies during perturbed and unperturbed balance in standing and handstand

Glen M Blenkinsop  1 , Matthew T G Pain  1 , Michael J Hiley  1
Affiliations

Balance control strategies during perturbed and unperturbed balance in standing and handstand

Glen M Blenkinsop et al. R Soc Open Sci. .

Abstract

Insights into sensorimotor control of balance were examined by the assessment of perturbed and unperturbed balance in standing and handstand postures. During perturbed and unperturbed balance in standing, the most prevalent control strategy was an ankle strategy, which was employed for more than 90% of the time in balance. During perturbed and unperturbed balance in handstand, the most prevalent control strategy was a wrist strategy, which was employed for more than 75% of the time in balance. In both postures, these strategies may be described as a single segment inverted pendulum control strategy, where the multi-segment system is controlled by torque about the most inferior joint with compensatory torques about all superior joints acting in the same direction to maintain a fixed orientation between superior segments. In contrast to previous literature, surprisingly little time was spent in a mixed strategy, representing less than 1% of time in standing balance and approximately 2% of time in handstand balance. Findings indicate that although the central nervous system may employ a number of control strategies during a trial, these strategies are employed individually rather than simultaneously.

Keywords: ankle strategy; postural control; wrist strategy.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Examples of control strategies in (a) standing and (b) handstand, identified by positive and negative correlations of adjacent joint torques.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Examples of the time spent in different control strategies during (a) backwards and (b) forwards perturbations in standing.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Examples of the time spent in different control strategies during (a) backwards and (b) forwards perturbations in handstand.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The mean time spent in each control strategy for unperturbed balance in standing and handstand in eyes open and eyes closed conditions (significant differences between standing and handstand are indicated by ▴ (p < 0.05); significant differences between eyes open and eyes closed are indicated by *(p < 0.05), **(p < 0.01) and ***(p < 0.005)).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The mean time spent in each control strategy for perturbed balance in standing (no significant differences were found between perturbation directions or magnitudes).
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
The mean time spent in each control strategy for perturbed balance in handstand (significant differences between perturbation directions are indicated by ▴(p < 0.05), ▴▴(p < 0.01) and ▴▴▴(p < 0.005); significant differences between perturbation magnitudes are indicated by *(p < 0.05)).
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