title: Cutaneous stimulation at the ankle: a differential effect on proprioceptive postural control according to the participants' preferred sensory strategy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ankle movements can be partially encoded by cutaneous afferents. However, little is known about the central integration of these cutaneous signals, and whether individual differences exist in this integration. The aim of this study was to determine whether the effect of cutaneous stimulation at the ankle would differ depending on the participants' preferred sensory strategy appraised by relative proprioceptive weighting (RPw).
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-seven active young individuals free of lower-limb injury stood on a force platform either barefoot or wearing a custom-designed bootee. Vibrations (60 Hz, 0.5 mm) were applied either to the peroneal tendons or to the lumbar paraspinal muscles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The barefoot RPw was strongly negatively correlated to the absolute change in RPw measured in the bootee condition (r = -0.81, P < 0.001). Participants were then grouped depending on their barefoot RPw value. The RPw was significantly higher in the bootee condition than in the barefoot condition only for participants with low barefoot RPw.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The external cutaneous stimulation given by the bootee increased the weight of ankle proprioceptive signals only for participants with low barefoot RPw. This result confirmed that optimization of the ankle proprioceptive signals provided by cutaneous afferent stimulation has a differential effect depending on the participants' preferred sensory strategy.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité, Université de Savoie, UFR SceM - Technolac, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France ; Salomon SAS, Amer Sports Footwear Innovation and Sport Science Lab, 14 chemin des Croiselets, 74996 Annecy, Cedex 9 France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavailler
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité, Université de Savoie, UFR SceM - Technolac, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hintzy
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité, Université de Savoie, UFR SceM - Technolac, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France ; Salomon SAS, Amer Sports Footwear Innovation and Sport Science Lab, 14 chemin des Croiselets, 74996 Annecy, Cedex 9 France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horvais
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité, Université de Savoie, UFR SceM - Technolac, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Forestier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000842:Ankle / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064170:Paraspinal Muscles / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D012775:Shoes; D013710:Tendons / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D014732:Vibration
keywords: Functional test; Relative proprioceptive weighting; Vibration