Purpose: We investigated whether an increase in muscular tone induced by the information about imminent posture destabilisation brings a positive result and prevents such destabilisation.
Methods: We measured forward and backwards movements of 38 participates (27 females and 11 males, aged 23 (SD 2.6)) on the treadmill (forward and backward movements). All participants were subjected to three test condition trials (Tr): 1) subject did not know the nature and time of perturbation (Tr1); 2) subject knew the nature of perturbation but did not know time (Tr2); 3) both the time and nature of perturbation were known precisely (Tr3). The tests resulted in the determination of muscular activity connected with a postural adjustment as well as values of pressure exerted by the forefoot on the ground, and the angle of flexion in the knee joint.
Results: In terms of postural adjustments, it was possible to observe statistically significant differences in muscular activity between Tr1 and Tr2 with reference to Tr3. No statistically significant differences were identified in all phases regarding values of forefoot pressure and those concerning the angle of flexion in the knee joint. An increase in the muscle tone before perturbation was correlated with the displacement and the velocity of the COP after perturbation.
Conclusions: The results obtained indicate that knowledge of the expected time of perturbation is responsible for postural adjustment. Furthermore, muscle tone resulting from an adjustment of perturbation and responsible for the stiffening of lower limbs triggered greater displacement of the COP after perturbation.