Human vision is often taken for granted: Consequences of visual guidance on Balance control

The ability forhumans to control our balance is significantly affected by our eyes being either opened or closed. This study investigatedthe effects of human visual guidance on balance control, particularly when standing upright. Seven healthy individualsbetween the ages of 20 to 30 yearsparticipated in this experimental study. An instrumented force platform was used to measure the time-varying displacements of the Center of Pressure (COP) under each participant's feet during quiet standing. The participants were tested under eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions in a repeated measures design. The average standard deviation of COP trajectories per condition wasanalysed with a paired samples t-test. The results pointed to the fact that visual guidance significantly influences the performance of balance control i.e. eyes-open balance control was significantly better than eyes-closed balance control. The key implication of this experimental finding is that when individuals are standing upright with their eyes closed, evenmomentarily, their balance and postural control is significantly altered and affected. The results indicate that visual guidance, based on eyes-open or eyes-closed conditions is a significant determinant of how well we are able to control our balance whether standing upright or walking.