| Research Abstract |
This study has been performed for 3 years, 1992-1994, for the purpose to establish a method to measure human body sways during standing, stepping and other physical exercises and to analyze their data by using a stabilometer and micro-computer.
1. A series of position data of both X and Y components of the center of the foot pressure(CFP) in each subject, standing, stepping and doing truncal or head movements, were measured by using a stabilometer(1G06). Those data were transformed to a PC-9801 microcomputer as digital data and were analyzed. A direct method to calibrate the data from a stabilometer was also devised.
2. Aging effects, appeared in human standing on both feet with eyes open and closed, were investigated in normal 285 subjects who had visited Kitasato Univ. Hospital(198 males and 87 females). By comparing the mean value and standard deviation of the length of total sway path in the group of each decade with the values in the group of 2 decades, increase of body sway was demonstrated in male subjects of 6 and 7 decades (P<0.05) and in females of 7 decades (P<0.01) during standing with eyes open but not with eyes closed.
3. Movements of the CFP during stepping and several exercises on erect posture were investigated by using a stabilometer. At the swing phase of stepping, CFP moved quickly forward and then backward in association with rapid lateral shift to the other side and at the stance phase the most lateral shift of CFP, which followed by a little forward medial, and then, backward lateral deviations were demonstrated. Body sways during inclination of the trunk in fore and backward, and lateral directions and twist of the trunk gave dominant movements of CFP in the horizontal, vertical and horizontal-vertical directions, respectively.
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