Abstrakt
The aim of the study was to assess balance abilities in visually impaired children during different types of standing positions. Sight plays a dominant role in balance abilities as coding and processing of other sensory information Research sample consisted of 11 students of the high school for visually impaired students (age 16.9 +- 4.4 year, body height 172.4+-3.8 cm, body weight 70.9+-4.6 kg).
Whole range of participants' visual impairments was represented in the study (category 1 - 3 participants, category 2 - 2 participants, category 3 - 3participants, category 4 - 2 participants, category 5 - 1 participant). To assess postural stability we used a stabilometric force platform Footscan with frequency of 33 Hz.
The length of the tests was 30 s for bipedal standing with eyes open and closed and standing on one foot with eyes open. Visual control deprivation in common population causes usually an increase of commonly evaluated parameters of postural stability.
In our research sample, the value of fluctuation in the left-right direction during standing with eyes closed was 7.61 +- 4.03 mm; in the anteroposterior direction it was14.40 +- 10.46 mm. The overall trajectory of TTW was 344.36+-87.88 mm, which means a deterioration of 44.96 mm compared to the standing with eyes open.
Differences between fluctuations in left-right and anteroposterior directions were only 0.68 mm, or 0.85 mm respectively.