DIFFERENTIATION OF BALANCE DEFICITS THROUGH EXAMINATION OF SELECTED COMPONENTS OF STATIC STABILOMETRY

Stabilometry, which measures the body's center of pressure (COP) movem ents, during relaxed standing, has been used to distinguish individual s with vestibular and neurologic dysfunctions from normal subjects. Th e purpose of this study was to determine whether mathematical differen ces in the magnitudes of the COP obtained from six somatosensory testi ng conditions could be used to discriminate between different types of balance deficits. Stabilometry measures, using a fixed force platform , were obtained from normal (N = 52) and dizzy (N = 149), peripheral v estibular dysfunction (PVD), post-concussion syndrome (PCS), psychogen ic (PSG), and unknown/undetermined etiology (UNK). The data significan tly differentiated CVD, PVD and PSG patients from normals and between some of the dizzy groups: CVD versus PVD, PCS; and PSG versus CVD, PVD , PCS and UNK. The measures of anterior-posterior COP movements provid ed the greatest discrimination.