title: One-leg standing performance and muscle activity: are there limb differences?
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare static balance performance and muscle activity during one-leg standing on the dominant and nondominant leg under various sensory conditions with increased levels of task difficulty. Thirty healthy young adults (age: 23 ± 2 years) performed one-leg standing tests for 30 s under three sensory conditions (ie, eyes open/firm ground; eyes open/ foam ground [elastic pad on top of the balance plate]; eyes closed/firm ground). Center of pressure displacements and activity of four lower leg muscles (ie, m. tibialis anterior [TA], m. soleus [SOL], m. gastrocnemius medialis [GAS], m. peroneus longus [PER]) were analyzed. An increase in sensory task difficulty resulted in deteriorated balance performance (P < .001, effect size [ES] = .57-2.54) and increased muscle activity (P < .001, ES = .50-1.11) for all but two muscles (ie, GAS, PER). However, regardless of the sensory condition, one-leg standing on the dominant as compared with the nondominant limb did not produce statistically significant differences in various balance (P > .05, ES = .06-.22) and electromyographic (P > .05, ES = .03-.13) measures. This indicates that the dominant and the nondominant leg can be used interchangeably during static one-leg balance testing in healthy young adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Training and Movement Sciences, Cluster of Excellency in Cognition Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Muehlbauer
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mettler
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Granacher
mesh_terms: D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult