title: Sensorimotor posture control in the blind: superior ankle proprioceptive acuity does not compensate for vision loss.
abstract: To better understand sensorimotor posture control differences between blind and sighted individuals, we examined the role of ankle joint proprioception and ankle muscle strength on postural control in healthy blind (n=13, 25-58 years) and age- and sex-matched sighted (n=15, 20-65 years) volunteers. We measured ankle joint proprioceptive acuity and isokinetic muscle strength in plantarflexion and dorsiflexion using an isokinetic dynamometer. We also assessed postural control performance during quiet bipedal stance with and without sudden postural perturbations, and during quiet unipedal stance. We found that while our blind subjects exhibited significantly better proprioceptive acuity than our sighted subjects their postural control performance was significantly poorer than that of the sighted group with eyes open, and no different from that of the sighted group with eyes closed suggesting that their superior proprioceptive acuity does not translate to improved balance control.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuromotor and Biomechanics Research and Department of Health & Human Performance, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Recep A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pourmoghaddam
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Paloski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology; D053581:Muscle Strength Dynamometer; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ankle proprioception; Ankle strength; Balance control; Blind people; Time-to-boundary