Estudo de uma estratégia de estimulação cutânea para melhora da estabilidade postural

Abstract

The cutaneous stimulation provides the central nervous system a relevant sensory input to control postural sway. Previous studies have shown that medical tape application at specific locations in the leg can improve posture control. One possible explanation is an effect on skin reflexes. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effects of cutaneous stimulation on postural control when there is sensitivity decrease in the stimulated region. The postural control of eleven women was evaluated before and after the skin anesthetic application and under the conditions with and without skin stimulation. With the loss of sensitivity, the use of skin stimulation through the tape, changed parameters such as mediolateral COP magnitude and anteroposterior velocity (P <0.05). These results suggest that even with decreased sensitivity the tape improved postural stability, but the action mechanism of the tape still seems uncertain.