Perception of trunk inclination during sitting with feet in contact with the floor.
Soma Endo, Hitoshi Asai, Tiharu Inaoka-Pleiades
PMID 30858660WHAT IT FOUND
Sitting with feet on the floor, 15 healthy young adults reproduced -15° and -10° backward tilt more accurately than 20° forward tilt.
Direction of error did not change across angles. This does not show effects in patients.
Key findings
01The size of the trunk angle mismatch was smaller at reference angles of -15° and -10° than at 20° in 15 healthy young adults.
02The forward or backward direction of the mismatch did not differ across reference positions.
03The study did not measure muscle activity, load on the feet, or pelvic and spinal angles.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 15 healthy young adults were tested, so the findings may not apply to older adults or patients with sitting or trunk control problems. The task was a laboratory repositioning measure, not a clinical function, activity, or treatment outcome. Muscle activity, load on the feet, pelvic angle, and spinal angle were not measured, so the study cannot explain the mechanism behind the differences. The tested trunk angles were limited to positions all participants could reach, not each person's full range of motion.
Declared interests
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Grant Number 26350609. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the backward-versus-forward difference as evidence that a sitting posture or trunk exercise is better for patients. The study measured only 15 healthy young adults in a laboratory task, did not test patients, and found no difference in the direction of error.