PTOtherJournal of physical therapy science2016

Influence of time restriction, 20 minutes and 94.6 months, of visual information on angular displacement during the sit-to-stand (STS) task in three planes.

Mozhgan Faraji Aylar, Faramarz Firouzi, Mandana Rahnama Araghi

PMID 28174446

WHAT IT FOUND

Girls who kept their eyes closed for 20 minutes showed larger dominant-side ankle movement than girls with eyes open.

Compared with eyes-open girls, congenitally blind girls showed larger non-dominant-side ankle movement and larger dominant-side knee movement. Hip movement did not differ.

Key findings

01Girls who kept their eyes closed for 20 minutes had significantly greater dominant-side ankle range of motion and start-to-end movement during sit-to-stand than girls with eyes open (p=0.042 and p=0.046).

02Congenitally blind girls had significantly greater non-dominant-side ankle start-to-end movement (p=0.038) and greater dominant-side knee range of motion (p=0.016) than girls with eyes open.

03Hip joint angles in all planes showed no significant differences among the congenitally blind, eyes-closed, and eyes-open groups.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs

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What it does not show

Only 15 girls were studied, so the movement differences may be unstable. The study measured laboratory joint angles and timing, not falls, pain, function, or independence. The paper does not say how the healthy girls were divided into eyes-closed and eyes-open groups. The eyes-closed time was only 20 minutes because young children could not tolerate longer eye closure. No intervention was tested, so the findings cannot support a treatment recommendation.

The easy way to misread this

Do not read these angle differences as proof of a clinically important balance problem or a treatment target. The study was a small laboratory movement analysis in 15 girls, with no intervention, no follow-up, and no measure of falls or daily function.

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