Do visually impaired people have a static balance as effective as sighted people?

BACKGROUND: Neuroplastic compensations are reported to improve static balance in visually impaired people (VIP). OBJECTIVE: To compare the static balance of VIP with control sighted subjects in different conditions of proprioceptive disturbance. METHODS: Thanks to a stabilometric platform, static balance was determined by measuring (1) the speed of displacement of the center of pressure of the subjects and (2) its total surface. Recordings on surfaces with (foam) or without (hard) proprioceptive disturbance were taken with both open and closed eyes. RESULTS: We compared 38 VIP to 36 control subjects. On hard surface, the speed of displacement was always higher in VIP than in control. On the foam surface, the speed was higher in VIP with open eyes while no difference was seen with closed eyes. The total surface of displacement was larger in VIP on the foam surface with open eyes while there was no difference either with closed eyes or on hard surface between VIP and control. CONCLUSIONS: Static balance with open eyes is more precarious in VIP than in control. Nevertheless, VIP subjects do as well as control sighted subjects with closed eyes as shown by similar total surface of displacement irrespective with the type of surface.

Tensiomyography method used for neuromuscular assessment of muscle training.

BACKGROUND: Within the structure of the skeletal muscle, there are fascicles of muscular fibers that are made up of serially distributed contractile elements. These elements are controlled by the nervous system, control which results in obtaining the muscular strength required for movement and its control. This study presents the neuromuscular assessment using tensiomyography method (TMG). METHODS: We studied two groups of soccer junior players, group 1 (experimental group) and group 2 (control group), each containing 15 soccer players; we have considered two situations of muscle training: the combination between the isometric-concentric contraction for group 1 and the concentric contraction for group 2. TMG is the electrical stimulation of the muscle group and the recording of the muscle parameters resulting after the isometric contraction: time contraction (Tc) and displacement (Dm) at rectus femoris muscle (RF), pointing out two moments T1 and T2. RESULTS: Tc decreasing and the Dm increasing involve a good response following the muscle training. For group 1, the Tc evolution is 22.54 ms/22.45 ms (T1/T2) for the right RF and 22.65 ms/22.26 ms for the left RF, while for group 2 results in a Tc evolution of 24.33 ms/28.57 ms (T1/T2) for the right RF and 25.74 ms/28.61 ms for the left RF. Dm for group 1, results in a 6.57 mm/6.85 mm (T1/T2) for the right RF and 6.92 mm/7.06 mm for the left RF, while for group 2, the Dm evolution shows 7.45 mm/5.83 mm (T1/T) for the right RF and 7.41 mm/6.26 mm for the left RF. Also, the evaluation on motor test indicated better results on T2 for the experimental group. Summarizing the results of Student t-test, we found significant differences between the averages of the two groups in all parameters (p < 0.001), the experimental group registering better results than the control one. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to develop muscle training which can be monitored through TMG.