Standing stability evaluation using a triaxial accelerometer

A triaxial accelerometer is placed at the back of the subject at the height of the center of mass. Force plate data are collected simultaneously. Subjects stand in a comfortable position with eyes open, eyes closed and doing cognitive tasks; and with feet together with eyes open and closed. The cognitive tasks are: mathematical, auditory Stroop and memory. The force plate data are processed to obtain the center of pressure and from it the parameters of: mean radius, speed and frequency, and base of support. The same parameters are obtained from the combined accelerations vector projection on the floor, found from the triaxial accelerometer data. The mean angular velocity, angular acceleration and accelerations in the horizontal plane at the level of the accelerometer are calculated T-tests indicate that for most parameters the accelerometer measurements are able to distinguish between the different test conditions as well as the force plate (p⩽0.05)