Abstract
Objective
This study aims to analyse changes in body sway over the course of pregnancy.
Study design
This is a descriptive study in which stabilometric tests were applied at three stages
of pregnancy and with a combination of different visual conditions (eyes open/closed)
and support base configuration (feet together/apart). Twenty healthy pregnant women
participated in the study. Changes in postural control with pregnancy were analysed
via the elliptical area of the stabilograms and spectral analysis of the displacements
of the centre of pressure (COP) along the lateral and anterior/posterior directions.
Results
The elliptical area encompassing the COP significantly increased over the course of
the pregnancy for the feet apart and eyes closed test protocols. The spectral analysis
revealed a significant increase of COP oscillations along the anterior–posterior direction
when subjects stood with the eyes open/feet together and feet apart. A reduction (significant)
of the lateral oscillations of COP was observed for the eyes open/feet together protocol.
Conclusion
Pregnancy induced significant changes in the postural control when pregnant women
stood with a reduced support base or with eyes closed.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive BiologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Changes in segment mass and mass distribution during pregnancy.J Biomech. 1996; 29: 251-256
- The influence of pregnancy on the location of the center of gravity, postural stability, and body alignment.Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1943; 46: 374-380
- Static trunk posture in sitting and standing during pregnancy and early postpartum.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2002; 83: 1739-1744
- Exercise, posture and back pain during pregnancy. Part 1. Exercise and posture.Clin Biomech. 1995; 10: 104-109
- Posture, performance and discomfort in pregnancy.Appl Ergon. 1992; 23: 128-132
- A comparison of sitting posture adaptations of pregnant and non-pregnant females.Int J Indust Ergon. 1999; 23: 391-396
- Effect of posture on hip joint moment during pregnancy, while performing a standing task.Clin Biomech. 1996; 11: 111-115
- Plantar foot pressures in pregnant women.Isr J Med Sci. 1997; 33: 139-146
- Postural equilibrium during pregnancy: decreased stability with a increased reliance on visual cues.Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006; 195: 1104-1108
- Balance (perceived and actual) and preferred stance width during pregnancy.Clin Biomech. 2008; 23: 468-476
- Can muscle stiffness alone stabilize upright standing?.J Neurophysiol. 1999; 82: 1622-1626
- Postural control.in: Binder M.D. Hirokawa N. Windhorst U. Encyclopedia of neuroscience. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg2009
- Human postural sway results from frequent, ballistic bias impulses by soleus and gastrocnemius.J Physiol. 2005; 564: 295-311
- Direct measurement of human ankle stiffness during quiet standing: the intrinsic mechanical stiffness is insufficient for stability.J Physiol. 2002; 545: 1041-1053
- Control of upright standing posture during low-frequency linear oscillation.Neurosci Res. 1998; 30: 333-342
- Stiffness control of balance in quiet standing.J Neurophysiol. 1998; 80: 1211-1221
- The frequency of human, manual adjustments in balancing an inverted pendulum is constrained by intrinsic physiological factors.J Physiol. 2006; 577: 417-432
- Calculation of area of stabilometric signals using principal components analysis.Physiol Meas. 1996; 17: 305-312
- Autoregressive spectral analysis of stabilometric signals.in: Proceedings of the 16th Ann. Int. Conf. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Baltimore1994
- Anticipation mechanism in body sway control and the influence of muscle fatigue.J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2007; 17: 739-746
- The influence of foot position on standing balance.J Biomech. 1987; 20: 423-427
- Stabilometric parameters are affected by anthropometry and foot placement.Clin Biomech. 2002; 17: 666-667
French Association of Posturology, Normes 85 – Editées par l”Association Française de Posturologie. 4. Avenue de Corbéra, 75012 Paris, France; 1985.
- Specifications for building a vertical force platform designed for clinical stabilometry.Med Biol Eng Comput. 1985; 23: 474-476
- Multivariate statistical methods.2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, Auckland1978
- The autoregressive structure of postural sway.Agressol. 1980; 21E: 101-104
- Sensory, neuromuscular and biomechanical contributions to human balance.in: Proceedings of the APTA Forum, Nashville1989: 4-12
- An overview of age-related changes in postural control during quiet standing tasks using classical and modern stabilometric descriptors.J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2008; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2008.10.007
- Introduction to applied statistical signal analysis.2nd ed. Academic Press, San Diego, CA1999
- Human balancing of an inverted pendulum: is sway size controlled by ankle impedance?.J Physiol. 2001; 532: 879-891
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 21, 2009
Accepted:
June 30,
2009
Received in revised form:
May 29,
2009
Received:
September 17,
2008
Footnotes
☆This study was conducted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
