Neuroscience Letters 513 (2012) 6–11 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Neuroscience Letters j our nal ho me p ag e: www.elsevier.com/locate/neulet Individuals with post-stroke hemiparesis are able to use additional sensory information to reduce postural sway B.P. Cunha a , S.R. Alouche a , I.M.G. Araujo b , S.M.S.F. Freitas a,∗ a Programa de Pós-Graduac ¸ ão em Fisioterapia, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil b Graduac ¸ ão em Fisioterapia, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 13 October 2011 Received in revised form 19 December 2011 Accepted 23 January 2012 Keywords: Center of pressure Tactile information Quiet standing Brain lesion Cerebrovascular accident a b s t r a c t The present study aimed to investigate whether stroke survivals are able to use the additional somatosen- sory information provided by the light touch to reduce their postural sway during the upright stance. Eight individuals, naturally right-handed pre-stroke, and eight healthy age-matched adults stood as quiet as possible on a force plate during 35 s. Participants performed two trials for each visual condition (eyes open and closed) and somatosensory condition (with and without the right or left index fingertip touch- ing an instrumented rigid and fixed bar). When participants touched the bar, they were asked to apply less than 1 N of vertical force. The postural sway was assessed by the center of pressure (COP) displacement area, mean amplitude and velocity. In addition, the mean and standard deviation of the force vertically applied on the bar during the trials with touch were assessed. The averaged values of COP area, ampli- tude and velocity were greater for stroke individuals compared to healthy adults during all visual and somatosensory conditions. For both groups, the values of all variables increased when participants stood with eyes closed and reduced when they touched the bar regardless of the side of the touch. Overall, the results suggested that, as healthy individuals, persons with post-stroke hemiparesis are able to use the additional somatosensory information provided by the light touch to reduce the postural sway. © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Individuals who have suffered a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) usually present balance deficits as observed by the increased pos- tural sway during quiet stance [8,10]. These deficits may be due to motor [11,23], sensory [19,29] and/or cognitive [3] impairments exhibited after a CVA and could be associated with the limited performance of several activities of daily living [22,31] and the increased risk for falls of stroke survivals [32]. The ability to maintain body balance and orientation is achieved by the postural control system and depends on the adequate func- tioning of the sensory (visual, vestibular and somatosensory) and motor systems [16]. Thus, impairment in any of these systems could lead to increased postural sway as observed in stroke sur- vivals. Indeed, sensory and motor deficits are commonly reported not only on the contralateral side of the brain lesion but also on the ipsilateral side [6,7]. Alternatively, additional somatosensory information provided by the light touch (less than 1 N) of the fingertip on an external rigid bar has been reported to be used by the postural control system to reduce postural sway [17,18,20,26]. The effect of light touch on pos- ∗ Corresponding author at: Programa de Pós-Graduac ¸ ão em Fisioterapia, Univer- sidade Cidade de São Paulo, Rua Cesário Galeno, 448/475-Tatuapé, São Paulo, SP 03071-000, Brazil. Tel.: +55 11 2178 1565. E-mail address: smsf.freitas@gmail.com (S.M.S.F. Freitas). tural sway has been observed in healthy young as well as in elderly adults [30], and other individuals with balance deficits due to ante- rior cruciate ligament injury [4], orthostatic tremor [2], diabetes [12], cerebellar dysfunction [28] and labyrinthine defects [21]. For stroke individuals, the influence of the touch (not a light one as the applied vertical force was more than 2 N) was investigated on the modulation of anticipatory postural adjustments when performed with more impaired hand [27] and during walking task by touching with the ipsilesional hand [5]. It was found that the contralesional touch (applied force ≈5 N) had lower effect on the adjustments in this population when compared to healthy individuals [27]. Thus, it is unclear whether the additional somatosensory information pro- vided by the light touch (applied force <1 N) of the ipsilesional and contralesional hand affects the postural sway of individuals after a CVA similarly to healthy, aged-matched individuals during quiet standing. The use of additional somatosensory information could be an important strategy for the stroke individuals to enhance their postural stability. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of light touch on postural sway of stroke survivors. Eight chronic hemiparetic, post-stroke adults (mean ± S.D.: 57 ± 8 years old) and eight age- and gender-matched neurologically healthy volunteers (mean ± S.D.: 58 ± 6 years old) participated in the study. All participants were right hand dominant as determined by the Edinburgh handedness questionnaire [24]. They signed the 0304-3940/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2012.01.053