International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | June 2015 | Vol 3 | Issue 6 Page 1358 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Maredia SI et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2015 Jun;3(6):1358-1362 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Research Article Influence of leg dominancy over foot pressure and postural sway in middle age population: an observational study Sulofana Iqbal Maredia 1 , Shraddha Sawant 1 , Senthil Kumar 2 * INTRODUCTION Postural stability or balance is defined as ability to maintain the projected center of motion within the limits of base of support; researches which have been done showed various strategies to control the stability and orientation of posture. There are three strategies namely hip, ankle, and knee to control the postures. Research had been done on postural control which showed asymmetry of postures by using various strategies as mentioned above. 1 The control of standing balance is a task of maintaining body’s centre of mass within the limit of base of support achieved by producing forces on the supporting surface predominantly by the feet. 2 Lateral dominance is the preferred use and superior performance of one side of the body as compared to the other side. 2 This preference is apparent in the upper extremity, where the preferred arm is usually stronger and more versatile. 3 Contrary to hand dominance minimal attention has been given to concept of leg and foot dominance. 2,3 Asymmetry between both the lower limbs has also been noted, When we step on the ground we produce a vector of force that is generally downward and backward. The ground produces an opposite force that is upwards and forwards and this is Ground Reaction Force (GRF). Exertions of ground reaction forces are widely used as an index of balance control. 4 ABSTRACT Background: The notion of limb dominance has been commonly used in the upper extremity, yet the two lower extremities are often treated as equal for clinical purposes. But both the lower limbs may not be perfectly symmetrical. There are conflicts of results with relation to leg dominancy, postural sway and foot pressure, which aided us to study the effect of lateralization on foot pressure and postural sway in middle age population. Methods: Thirty two normal subjects were recruited based on criteria, whose dominant lower limb was ascertained, Foot Pressure and postural sway was assessed by weighing scale and postural sway meter respectively. Results: Descriptive statistics and two way ANOVA were used as statistical analysis. Foot Pressure showed significant difference (P value <0.05) between dominant and non-dominant leg. On the other hand postural sway showed significant antero-lateral sway towards dominant side (P value <0.001). Conclusions: Lateralization of foot pressure is significant over dominant leg while postural sway is significant over anterolateral dominant side. Keywor ds: Leg dominancy, Foot Pressure, Postural sway 1 Smt. Kashibai Navale College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, India 2 Department of Cardio Vascular Respiratory Physiotherapy, Smt. Kashibai Navale College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, India Received: 28 March 2015 Revised: 05 April 2015 Accepted: 07 May 2015 *Correspondence: Dr. Senthil Kumar, E-mail: senthilekumar@gmail.com, senthile_kumar@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: 10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20150147