The dominant foot affects the postural control mechanism: examination by body tracking test

Abstract

ConclusionThe antero-posterior (AP) body tracking test (BTT) showed that the dominant foot could affect the tilt angle of the sway movement, delineated by primary component analysis. Differences associated with the dominant foot could represent the difference in space perception of each person.ObjectivesTo examine whether the dominant foot could affect the postural control mechanism using the BTT. MethodsNinety-seven healthy participants enrolled in the study were classified into right-foot and left-foot dominance groups, and their performances were compared. For the BTT, each participant stood on a stabilometer and caught the movement of a visual target moving vertically (anterior-posterior) or horizontally by the center of pressure movement, displayed on a 14-inch screen monitor at 100 cm in front of the subject. The mean displacement angle of the obtained stabilogram was evaluated by principal component analysis.ResultsThe AP BTT in the right-foot dominance group showed a clockwise tilt with a mean displacement angle of 3.022 ± 3.761°, whereas the group with left-foot dominance had a modest counter-clockwise tilt with a mean displacement angle of –0.694 ± 4.497°. This difference was found to be significant by the independent t test (p < 0.0001). In the lateral BTT, the mean displacement angles were not significant.

Static and Dynamic Balance Disorders in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis and Relationships With Lower Extremity Function and Deformities: A Prospective Controlled Study

“…Asymmetrical distribution of weight through the LEs found in both the patient and control groups might be due to the dominant foot entity. A previous study demonstrated that foot dominance and postural control have a correlation, 20 and this finding is consistent with the data of this study.…”

Leg Dominance Effects on Postural Control When Performing Challenging Balance Exercises

“…Traditionally, studies on footedness analyzed unipedal postural stability by assessing the center of pressure (COP) oscillations; however, the COP-based variables, such as sway area [16], COP excursion [17], 95% COP elliptical area [18], standard deviation [18], total path length [16,18], and speed [8,18], did not indicate an effect of leg dominance. Only in a body-tracking test [19] were effects of footedness observed when participants received visual feedback of their performance. Visual feedback might make a difference, since processing visual information is also distributed asymmetrically between the brain hemispheres [20,21], which could interact with neural asymmetries, causing motor control laterality.…”

Toe grip force of the dominant foot is associated with fall risk in community‐dwelling older adults: a cross‐sectional study

“…More specifically, our study result indicates the importance of the TGF of the DF for preventing falls. Yoshida et al [ 10 , 11 ] reported that the DF may contribute to spatial perception in standing posture control and posture control mechanism in dynamic balance. Furthermore, Demura et al [ 21 ] reported that, compared with the non-DF, the DF was superior in its ability to regulate muscle exertion.…”

“…Dominance is defined as a phenomenon in which one side of the left-right pair of body parts, such as the hands and feet, shows better results in cognitive and motor tasks than the other side [ 8 , 9 ]. Yoshida et al [ 10 , 11 ] reported that the function of the dominant foot (DF) may affect standing posture control in dynamic balance. Based on these reports, it is necessary to pay attention to the function of the DF.…”