Light finger touch on the upper legs reduces postural sway during quasi-static standing

The purpose of this study was to test whether a light finger touch on one's own body (upper legs) reduces postural sway. Ten healthy males participated. In the first part of the study, the participants stood upright with their eyes closed on a force platform while ground reaction force data were collected. Two conditions differing in the placement of the arms and fingers were tested. In the no-touch condition, the participants kept their hands in loose fists. In the finger-touch condition, the participants lightly touched the lateral sides of the upper legs with all fingers. Postural sway measures were calculated from the ground reaction force data. In the second part of the study, the participants stood upright on a pneumatic balance disk while ground reaction force data were collected. Experimental and measurement protocols were identical to those used in the first part of the study. The results showed that light finger touch on the upper legs significantly reduced postural sway on the balance disk up to similar to 7%. The data from this study suggest that decreased postural sway due to finger contact may improve balance control during other standing tasks.