title: Effects of external focus of attention on balance: a short review.
abstract: [Purpose] The present study reviewed studies that examined the effects of attentional focus on balance. [Methods] Keywords such as "attentional", "focus", and "balance" were used to find relevant research papers in PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). Forty-five papers were found, and 18 of them were used for this study, excluding review papers and papers irrelevant to the topic of this study. [Results] Among the papers used for the review, the number of papers in which external focus produced effective outcomes was 15 (83.3%). The number of papers in which both external and internal focus produced effective outcomes was 2 (11.1%). The number of paper in which no instruction about attentional focus was effective was 1 (5.5%), and the number of papers in which internal focus was effective was zero. [Conclusion] This short review suggests clinical implications about how physical therapists can use attentional focus for balance rehabilitation of patients. Instructions about external focus of attention can generally be useful as a method to improve posture and balance control. Furthermore, the present reviews indicates that external focus of attention would be more useful in a rehabilitation stage in which the difficulty level of balance performance is gradually increased.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School, Catholic University of Daegu, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sun Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School, Catholic University of Daegu, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chae Woo
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School, Catholic University of Daegu, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ju Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Medical Science, Catholic University of Daegu, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young Uk
authors.initials: YU
authors.lastname: Ryu
keywords: Attentional focus; Balance; External focus
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