Introduction: Balance is the ability to maintain the center of gravity above the support surface. Complex sensorimotor systems are responsible for the effective maintenance of the balance with the help of sensory input from the visual, proprioceptive and vestibular systems. Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) is a portable, cheap and objective clinical test, primarily developed to assess the effects of mild head injury to the balance. A force plate enables us to measure the movement of the center of pressure (COP) simultaneously during the testing. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work was to determine the correlations between the number of errors and the movement of COP in each task amongst healthy young individuals. Methods: 17 healthy young individuals (21,0 ± 0,94 years) without any injuries in the lower limb and head concussions in the past six months prior were included in the study. The testing was conducted in the Biomechanical laboratory with a force plate Kistler 9286 AA, on which BESS was carried out. The test consists of three stances with eyes closed (double, single, tandem leg stance) on two different surfaces (firm and foam surface). Each task lasts 20 seconds at a sampling frequency of 200 Hz, with which we observed the variables anteroposterior and mediolateral path and speed of the COP. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlations between the movement of COP and the number of errors at each task. Results: Double-leg stance on firm and foam surface did not allow us to calculate the correlations due to zero errors made by each participant. The number of errors in other tasks had moderate to very strong correlations with the movement of COP, with the exception of single leg stance on the foam surface, which had a weak correlation. The movement of COP in stances on firm surface had moderate to strong correlations with the total number of errors, whereas the correlations on foam surface were weak, with the exception of speed and mediolateral path of movement of COP in single leg stance on foam surface, which had a strong correlation. Discussion and conclusion: The research showed that the number of errors in each task, despite the double leg stances, which have a floor effect, correlates strongly to very strongly with the movement of COP, with the exception of the single leg stance on foam surface, which has a weak correlation, similar to previous studies. Movement of COP in single leg stance on foam surface has the strongest correlations with the task and the total number of errors, which enables us to evaluate the individuals with poor balance in shortage of time only in this stance. Future researches should investigate the effects of different sports on the total BESS score, correlations between the movement of COP and the type of errors and the effects of age (above 65) on total BESS score.
|
