Plantar Pressure Assessment: A New Tool for Postural Instability Diagnosis in Multiple Sclerosis - Technologies for Medical Sciences - page 173

Plantar Pressure Assessment: A New Tool
for Postural Instability Diagnosis in Multiple
Sclerosis

Jo ao M.C. S. Abrantes and Luis F.F. Santos

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory, demyelinating disease
of the central nervous system (CNS), and is the most common progressive neuro-
logical disease in young adults. Debilitating motor and sensory function are the
major features of the disease. Balance disorders are associated with ambulation
difficulties such sustaining an upright posture and performing functional activities
such as turning. Those skills predispose people with MS to loss the balance control
and fall. An adequate evaluation of postural degree of stability is essential for
monitoring the various stages of disease. Sometimes clinical balance tests may not
detect subtle deficits in adults with MS who are not yet experiencing functional
limitations or disability. It's important to develop new instruments that could
identify subtle impairments before they lead to functional decline. The purpose
of this study was to determine if centre of pressure (COP) displacement assessed
by plantar pressure could be a useful performance-based evaluative measure for
adults with MS comparing with a clinical examination using the Berg Balance Scale
(BBS). Subjects with MS (n

28).
The subjects with MS were subjected to three tests: (1) Plantar pressure in upright
standing position (

D 29) were compared with healthy adults (n D

10s); (2) Right and Left gait stance phase (1-step protocol);
and, (3) BBS test. Control subjects performed (1) and (2) tests. COP measures show
clear differences when comparing healthy adults with adults with MS and this group
had kinematics alterations of COP characteristics. The plantar pressure plate is a

t D

J.M.C. S. Abrantes ( )
MovLab, Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Lisbon, Portugal
e-mail: [e-mail]
L . F. F. S a n t o s
Department of Physical and Medicine Rehabilitation of SAMS, Lisbon, Portugal
ADFisio - Rehabilitation Center, Lisbon, Portugal
e-mail: [e-mail]