BALANCE CONTROL DURING LATERAL ARM RAISING IN HUMANS

THE aim of the present study was to determine (i) whether the centre o f gravity (CG) shift resulting from the mechanical effect of arm raisi ng in the frontal plane is minimized in standing subjects and (ii) whe ther this putative minimization is affected by the support conditions (unipedal vs bipedal) and/or by adding a load (3.5 kg) to the moving h and. Our results indicate first that a CG control does exist during bi pedal stance (compensating for 31% of the mechanical shift), which inc reases markedly in unipedal stance (73%) and secondly, that an additio nal load is compensated for solely in the case of unipedal stance (81% ).