Influence of light touch contact using T-cane on balance function

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of light touch contact using T-cane to postural stability under the conditions simulated physical function of the elderly. The subjects were seventeen healthy adults. There were three conditions: static standing (Cond-A), static standing with goggles to simulate the elderly and cooled the sole of foot (Cond-B), and its condition with T-cane under loading less than 500g (Cond-C). The center of gravity recorder was used, and measurements were root mean square and velocity of center of pressure in three conditions. In the statistical analysis, repeated measurement variance analysis was used for the comparison of three conditions and the Bonferroni method was used for multiple comparisons. In the results, for root mean square, Cond-A and Cond-C were lower than Cond-B. For velocity, Cond-A and Cond-C were lower than Cond-B. It was suggested that the decrease of the postural sway by light touch contact with T-cane.