RESEARCH ARTICLE


The Effect of Lightly Gripping a Cane on the Dynamic Balance Control



Kazushige Oshita 1, *, Sumio Yano 2
1 Department of Sports Science, Faculty of Sports Science, Kyushu Kyoritsu University, 1-8 Jiyugaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu-city, Fukuoka, 807-8585, Japan
2 Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe-city, Hyogo, 657-8501, Japan


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Creative Commons License
© Oshita and Yano; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Sports Science, Faculty of Sports Science, Kyushu Kyoritsu University, 1-8 Jiyugaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu-city, Fukuoka, 807-8585, Japan; Tel: +81/ 093/ 693/ 3016; Fax: +81/ 093/ 693/ 3432; E-mail: monofinswim@gmail.com


Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of lightly gripping a cane on the Functional Reach Test (FRT) to evaluate dynamic balance. 21 healthy men (19±1 years) were asked to perform the FRT three times. The standard FRT was performed in the first and third trials. In the second trial, participants in a light-grip group (n = 11) were told to lightly grip (but to not apply force for mechanical support) the cane during the FRT. Participants in a depend-on-cane group (n = 10) were told to perform the FRT while supporting their weight with the cane. FRT is improved by not only supporting a person’s own weight with a cane but also just lightly gripping the cane. These findings would be helpful in the development of a useful application to improve the human movement using a haptic sensory supplementation for activities of daily living.

Keywords: Dynamic balance, functional reach test, haptic sensory information, light touch. .