Effects of limiting anterior displacement of the center of foot pressure on anticipatory postural control during bilateral shoulder flexion

In bilateral shoulder flexion with the arms moving from the sides of the body to the horizontal level while standing, no preceding activation of the triceps surae (TS) with respect to focal muscles has been found. Considering that preceding activation would offer a useful indicator of anticipatory postural control, it was attempted to induce preceding activation by limiting the anterior displacement range of the center of foot pressure in the anteroposterior direction (CoPap). Subjects were 13 healthy young adults. The 50% anterior range of CoPap displacement caused by shoulder flexion was calculated, and the floor inclined by the subject’s weight when CoPap extended beyond that range. Subjects were instructed not to incline the floor during shoulder flexion. Under the limitation condition, the ankle and knee joints plantarflexed and extended at 1.1°, respectively, with no hip movement; that is, the whole body inclined backward by pivoting at the ankle. This limitation resulted in preceding muscle activation of TS as well as erector spinae and biceps femoris, and no significant differences in onset time were seen between these muscles. These results demonstrated that by limiting CoPap anterior displacement, preceding activation of TS could be induced with backward inclination of the whole body.