Trend Change Analysis as a New Tool to Complement the Evaluation of Human Body Balance in the Time and Frequency Domains

Abstract

Trend change analysis is a tool that complements the assessment of human body stability and provides information on the number and frequency of postural corrections during an examination. The present research aims to determine the possibility of using this method of analysis to investigate postural stability during tests of standing with open eyes (OE) and closed eyes (CE). A total of 118 participants (67 females, 51males) aged 23 (SD 1.3) were assessed. Tests involved standing on a stabilographic platform for 50 s. Trend change analysis was used to evaluate displacement values of the center of pressure (COP). Values for the COP courses as well as values associated with trend change analysis, such as: TCI, MACD_t and MACD_V were determined. Histograms of distribution were plotted for TCI values. The present study provides information on alterations of the strategy used for maintaining balance, which are associated with the number of postural corrections and COP displacement between corrections for measurements taken during the standing test with CE in relation to OE measurements. The strategy demonstrated an ability to detect a smaller number of quick corrections, an increased number of corrections of longer duration, and the elongation of displacement between subsequent postural corrections. Slight standard deviations in TCI and MACD_t values calculated during trend change analysis, for both the OE and CE conditions, made it possible to classify these values as indexes of postural stability with significant sensitivity to slight changes.