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Characterizing the Dynamics of Postural Sway in Humans Using Smoothness and Regularity Measures

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Abstract

We investigate human postural sway velocity time series by computing two dynamical statistics quantifying the smoothness (the central tendency measure or CTM) and the regularity (the sample entropy or SampEn) of their underlying dynamics. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of aging and vision on the selected measures and to explore the nature of postural dynamics by performing surrogate data tests. A group of 14 young subjects was compared to a group of 11 older healthy subjects in two visual conditions: with eyes open (EO) and with eyes closed (EC). The results suggest that vision and age do not influence the two statistics of the velocity data in the same way. More specifically, the smoothness statistic is able to detect the aging effect. The regularity measure is sensitive to the visual feedback removal. In contrast with some findings in the literature, the results of the surrogate data tests indicate that the center of pressure velocity dynamics are stochastic and are not produced by a purely determinisitic behavior. Finally, we discuss some potential implications of our results in terms of postural control mechanisms.

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Notes

  1. Not significant.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the french Ministère de l’Education Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Movement to Health Laboratory, Montpellier-1 University, EuroMov, 700, Av. du Pic Saint-Loup, 34090, Montpellier, France

    Sofiane Ramdani, Benoît Seigle, Déborah Varoqui, Hubert Blain & Pierre Louis Bernard

  2. UMR CNRS 6168 LSIS, Sud-Toulon-Var University, La Garde, France

    Frédéric Bouchara

  3. Unité de Soins Aigus Gériatriques, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Hubert Blain

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  1. Sofiane Ramdani
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Correspondence to Sofiane Ramdani.

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Associate Editor Thurmon E. Lockhart oversaw the review of this article.

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Ramdani, S., Seigle, B., Varoqui, D. et al. Characterizing the Dynamics of Postural Sway in Humans Using Smoothness and Regularity Measures. Ann Biomed Eng 39, 161–171 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-010-0137-9

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