ABSTRACT

For centuries scientists have attempted to gain an understanding of the dynamics of human standing posture by various methods of measurement [1-33]. Ascertainment of how secure a patient is during upright posture is often a clinical problem. This section describes a technique to quantitate the degree of postural unsteadiness and instability in patients [34]. Normal standards of stability and steadiness are presented that can serve as baselines for comparison with the postural insecurity of patients. A platform is used to record the magnitude of the total vertical supportive force and also the excursion of the center of pressure of this force in the fore-aft and mediolateral directions.