Objective—To identify the factors that determine quality of life (QoL) in patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease in a population based sample. Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly recognised as a critical measure in health care as it incorporates the patients’ own perspective of their health. Methods—All patients with Parkinson’s disease seen in a population based study on the prevalence...

BACKGROUND Postural control deficits have been purported to be a potential contributing factor in chronic ankle instability (CAI). Summary forceplate measures such as center of pressure velocity and area have not consistently detected postural control deficits associated with CAI. A novel measurement technique derived from the dynamical systems theory of motor control known as Time-to-boundary ...

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE Maintainance of postural balance requires detection of body movements, integration of sensory information in the central nervous system and an appropriate motor response. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether lower-limb dominance has an influence on postural balance. DESIGN AND SETTING This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Faculdade de Medicina da Uni...

Proprioceptive deficits negatively affect postural control but their precise contribution to postural instability in Parkinson's disease (PD) is unclear. We investigated if proprioceptive manipulations differentially affect balance, measured by force plates, during quiet standing in 13 PD patients and 13 age-matched controls with a history of falls. Perceived limits of stability (LoS) were deri...

Aging is associated with increased balance instability, decreased mobility, gait speed, and muscle strength. In fact muscle strength, within sarcopenia context, is considered a major determinant of mobility decline. Therefore we investigated the independent and joint contributions of balance (static, dynamic and postural sway using force platform technique) and walking speed, on KE strength in ...

OBJECTIVE To identify clinician and laboratory-oriented measures of function capable of explaining health-related quality of life in individuals with chronic ankle instability. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Forty physically active individuals with chronic ankle instability attended a single testing session. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants completed health-r...

Postural stability becomes compromised with advancing age, but the neural mechanisms contributing to instability have not been fully explicated. Accordingly, this quantitative physiological and MRI study of sex differences across the adult age range examined the association between components of postural control and the integrity of brain structure and function under different conditions of sen...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS There is an important role of the neck sensory motor system in control of body posture and balance, and it is reasonable to believe that the jaw sensory motor system can directly and indirectly influence the modulation of the postural control system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate possible effects of dynamic jaw position while chewing on the postural control syste...

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of active head rotation on postural control in stroke patients during standing as compared with age-matched healthy subjects. [Subjects and Methods] In total, 46 stroke patients and 37 age-matched healthy subjects were recruited for the study. A stabilometer was used to assess postural stability in participants during standing, with or ...

Posture control is based on central integration of multisensory inputs, and on internal representation of body orientation in space. This multisensory feedback regulates posture control and continuously updates the internal model of body's position which in turn forwards motor commands adapted to the environmental context and constraints. The peripheral localization of the vestibular system, cl...