The effect of sensory input on the temporal structure of center of pressure in stroke survivors

Stroke is the leading cause of disability that affects 17 million people worldwide. Patients post-stroke suffer from maintaining balance because the brain may not be able to receive or process visual, vestibular and proprioceptive sensory information: all of which contribute towards maintaining stability. Information provided by vision is important for spatial orientation, as it develops an environmental perspective. Proprioception is detected through the stretching of tendons and surrounding tissue and is able to help the brain determine spatial location. The vestibular system provides a sense of balance detecting rotations and linear accelerations through the vestibulo-ocular reflex. The vestibular system is important in maintaining spatial orientation and helps override sensory conflict. Postural control is a problem in stroke because it affects people carrying out activities of daily living (ADL). It was hypothesized that when sensory feedback is absent or unreliable, balance control in stroke survivors will be worse than healthy age-matched controls. In this study, chronic stroke survivors and healthy age-matched adults were recruited to go through the Sensory Organization Test with the objective of determining the effect of the contributions of each of the different sensory systems for maintaining balance during perturbed and unperturbed standing tasks