Postural Sway of Subjects Wearing the U.S. Army Chemical Protective Ensemble after Functional Activity

William E. Egan, M.P.T., Daniel P. Fisher, M.P.T., L. Derek Gerber, M.P.T., Brian S. Hatler, M.P.T., Gregory P. Ernst, Ph.D., M.P.T., Cliff Hall, BSC, M.S., P.T., and Nancy Henderson, Ph.D., M.P.T.
Aviat Space Environ Med 2001; 72:831-5

Abstract

Background: This study assessed the effects of wearing the chemical protective clothing ensemble (CPE) vs. the battle dress uniform (BDU) on postural sway after 18 min of simulated field activity. Postural sway is a measure of static balance where a person maintains his/her center of gravity over his/her base of support by swaying fore to aft usually around the ankle joint axis. Hypotheses: Subjects' postural sway would increase more post-exercise while wearing the CPE vs. the BDU. The increase in postural sway while wearing the CPE would be due to decreased visual and somatosensory inputs. Methods: Static balance was measured on 25 subjects pre- and post-exercise on the NeuroCom SMART Balance Master^® using the Sensory Organization Test protocol. Following a test-retest, repeated measures design, each subject completed the protocol twice, once while wearing only the BDU and once while wearing the CPE. Results: A 2 x 2 repeated measures, multivariate analysis of variance revealed no significant difference between the static balance of subjects wearing the CPE vs. wearing the BDU pre- or post-exercise. Conclusions: The authors suggest that the wearing of the CPE does not affect static balance, even after completing 18 min of functional tasks. Future research should objectively quantify the amount of fatigue post-exercise and employ a protocol that has been previously shown to increase postural sway.

Keywords: balance, chemical suit, fatigue.

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Table of Contents for Volume 72, Number 9 of the ASME journal.