Influence of the inclined floor on the stepping test.

Abstract

The stepping test was performed on an inclined floor (3°) in 8 normal subjects and 32 patients with problems of equilibrium. In the normal subjects, the inclined floor changed the relationship between the information of pression on the right and left portion of the body through the cutaneoplantar senses, and the goniometric information from the tibioperoneotarsal joint through the Ruffini sensory endings, stabilized their equilibrium a little. In the subjects with labyrinthine disorders, the inclined floor did not change the results of the stepping test. On the contrary, in patients with disorders of the central nervous system (i. e. head injury, etc.) or central or peripheral disorders of the proprioceptive system (i. e. whiplash injury), the inclined floor decreased the angle of rotation of the stepping test. Therefore, the stepping test on an inclined floor is useful as a routingc test in the differential diagnosis of patients with problems of equilibrium.