The effects of surface compliance on foot pressure in stance

Sound design and perception in walking interactions

“…Prior research has emphasized the influence of visual, haptic, vestibular, and proprioceptive information on control and planning of locomotion over predominantly flat surfaces (e.g., Wu and Chiang, 1996). In two respects, these studies provide a limited account of the complexity of walking in real world environments.…”

The effect of foam surface properties on postural stability assessment while standing

“…However, the thickness and density of the foam surfaces in different studies have varied from one another considerably. For example, the foam block can range from being 2-cm thick [15] to 12-cm thick [10] and from low density (25 kg/m 3 ) [16] to high density (54.53 kg/m 3 ) [17]. Although it is difficult to determine the degree to which mechanoreceptive information is affected by compliant surfaces [18], research has suggested that the input to the mechanoreceptors on the soles of the feet is increasingly affected by adding layers of foam of the same material [8].…”

Effects of dyslexia on postural control in adults

“…However, the studies by Fawcett, Nicolson and colleagues and by Wimmer and colleagues Nicolson et al, 1999;Wimmer et al, 1999) suggest evidence of attention deficits being related to poor postural control in dyslexics. Therefore, a common assessment method of postural control was selected, to have subjects stand on a foam block (Enbom, Magnusson, & Pyykko, 1991), which alters postural stability by making pressure distribution uncertain (MacLellan & Patla, 2006;Wu & Chiang, 1996) and reduces the effectiveness of ankle torque for postural stability (Horak & Hlavacka, 2001;MacLellan & Patla, 2006). Also, the sensory deficit caused by standing on foam increases the level of attention required to re-weigh the afferent information to the other more reliable receptors (Redfern et al, 2001;Schlesinger et al, 1998).…”

“…firm or foam), the larger difference between the dyslexic group and the non-dyslexic group on foam, although non-significant, could indicate that dyslexic adults have some difficulty in re-weighing their sensory information to the more reliable receptors due to their attention impairment. Standing on a foam surface alters postural stability by making pressure distribution uncertain (MacLellan & Patla, 2006;Wu & Chiang, 1996) and by reducing the effectiveness of ankle torque for postural stability (Horak & Hlavacka, 2001;MacLellan & Patla, 2006;. Attention deficiency has also been proposed as a cause for the marked differences found between a group of child dyslexics and non-dyslexics using double-and single-legged stance (Pozzo et al, 2006).…”