Open AccessChanges in plantar load distribution in legally blind subjects
Author(s) -
Ketlin Jaquelline Santana de Castro,
Raílson Cruz Salomão,
Newton Quintino Feitosa,
Leonardo Dutra Henriques,
Ana Francisca Rozin Kleiner,
Anderson Belgamo,
André Santos Cabral,
Anselmo de Athayde Costa e Silva,
Bianca Callegari,
Givago da Silva Souza
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0249467
Subject(s) - forefoot , center of pressure (fluid mechanics) , visual impairment , plantar pressure , medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , balance (ability) , first metatarsal , eyes open , displacement (psychology) , force platform , foot (prosody) , audiology , physical therapy , psychology , orthodontics , surgery , valgus , system of measurement , linguistics , philosophy , physics , astronomy , psychiatry , engineering , aerodynamics , psychotherapist , aerospace engineering , complication
We investigated the impact of visual impairment on balance control. We measured the center of pressure (COP) between the two feet and plantar surface pressures on each foot in 18 normal-sighted participants and compared their data with measures from 18 legally blind participants, either acquired or congenital. Pressures were measured in open- and closed-eye conditions using a baropodometric resistive plate. In the eyes-open condition, there were no differences between the sighted and legally blind groups in COP displacement. However, participants with visual loss had significantly increased pressures in two metatarsal regions (M1 and M2 zones) of the plantar surface in both viewing conditions (p < 0.05). The differences in pressure measures between the normally sighted and legally blind groups could be attributed mainly to the subgroup of subjects with acquired impairment. Our findings suggest that subjects with visual impairment present increased metatarsal pressures (i.e. forefoot), not yet associated to anterior displacement of COP or impaired balance control.