Individuals with Down syndrome exhibit greater body sway during quiet standing compared to healthy individuals due to their greater reliance on visual information. This study examined the influence of visual input on postural stability in individuals with Down syndrome. Eight subjects with Down syndrome performed Romberg's test with their eyes open, closed, and with visual feedback of their center of pressure. The results showed that visual feedback significantly reduced postural sway in individuals with Down syndrome, indicating they rely heavily on visual information to maintain stability.

1. FACULDADE DE MOTRICIDADE HUMANA | FACULTY OF HUMAN KINETICS
The in•uence of visual input on the postural
stability in individuals with down syndrome
Skiadopoulos, A. and Gianikellis, K.
Faculty of Sports Science, University of Extremadura, Spain
Introduction: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) exhibit higher body sway
than healthy ones during quiet standing [1, 2] due to their greater reliance on the visual
information [3]. The aim of this study was to determinate the contribution of the visual
input on the postural stability of individuals with DS.
Methods: Eight subjects (25.3±7.9 years) with DS participated in this study.
Subjects were requested by their instructors to realize two trials of Romberg’s test with
eyes open (EO), eyes closed (EC) and with visual feedback (VF) of their center of
pressure (COP). COP displacements were registered by an origin-calibrated strain-gau-
ge force plate (DINASCAN 600M) at a sampling rate of 30 Hz. The data were smoothed
using general cross-validatory quintic splines and their !rst and second time derivatives
calculated. The area of the ellipse contained 85.3 % of the COP data points was compu-
ted.
Results: The study yielded information concerning the visual contribution on the
postural stabilization of individuals with DS. Once an ANOVA (p<.05) has been perfor-
med concerning calculated parameters, signi!cant differences between the three tests
have been determined.
Discussion: The obtained results indicated that individuals with DS are depen-
ded on the visual information to reduce body sway. When the visual input was enhanced
through continuous feedback the postural sway decreased considerably.
[1] M. M. Gomes and J. A. Barela, Postural control in down syndrome: the use of
somatosensory and visual information to attenuate body sway, Motor Control, 11 (2007),
pp. 224-34.
[2] N. Vuillerme, L. Marin and B. Debû, Assessment of static postural control in
teenagers with Down syndrome, Adapted Pysical Activity Quarterly, 18 (2001), pp. 417-
433.
[3] M. G. Wade, R. Van Emmerik and T. W. Kernozek, v Atypical dynamics of
motor behavior in Down syndrome in D. J. Weeks, R. Chua and D. Elliott, eds.,
Perceptual-motor behavior in Down syndrome, Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, 2000,
pp. 277-303.
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