Dickenson Jessica A, Harman Taylor S, Kunwar Ajaya J, Thakur Nilam, Dhungel Sunil, Sherpa Nima, Bigham Abigail W, Brutsaert Tom D, Day Trevor A, Strzalkowski Nicholas D J
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2025 Apr 11. doi: 10.1007/s00421-025-05764-8.
We investigated the influence of incremental ascent to 4300 m on standing balance under eyes open and eyes closed conditions in lowlanders and Tibetan highlanders (e.g., Sherpa).
29 healthy participants, that included 15 lowlanders (LL, 7 M, 8F; 22.4 ± 3.0 years) and 14 Tibetan highlanders (TH; 7 M,7F, 22.9 ± 4.5 years) completed this study. Unacclimatized participants performed two 90-s standing balance trials on a force plate with eyes open and eyes closed, at low altitude (1400 m) and after 5 days of incremental ascent to high altitude (4300 m). Center of pressure (CoP) velocity and standard deviation were calculated to quantify postural sway. Peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO) was continuously monitored during standing balance trials.
SpO was significantly lower at high altitude compared to low altitude (P < 0.0001). We did not find significant changes in COP velocity amplitude or standard deviation between low and high altitude for all participants, or when comparing LL and TH, or males and females, in either the eyes open or eyes closed conditions (P > 0.1532). TH had significantly greater CoP velocity compared to LL with eyes open (P= 0.0090). Males had significantly greater sway velocity than females with eyes closed (P = 0.0193).
These findings suggest that incremental ascent to 4300 m does not change standing balance in LL and TH. This finding contradicts previous studies that found standing balance to be impaired at high altitude. Future work is needed to investigate the influence of high altitude trekking models and acclimatization on standing balance.
我们研究了低地人和藏族高地人（如夏尔巴人）在睁眼和闭眼条件下，逐步上升至4300米对站立平衡的影响。
29名健康参与者完成了本研究，其中包括15名低地人（LL，7名男性，8名女性；22.4±3.0岁）和14名藏族高地人（TH；7名男性，7名女性，22.9±4.5岁）。未适应环境的参与者在低海拔（1400米）以及逐步上升至高海拔（4300米）5天后，在测力平台上进行了两次90秒的睁眼和闭眼站立平衡试验。计算压力中心（CoP）速度和标准差以量化姿势摆动。在站立平衡试验期间持续监测外周血氧饱和度（SpO）。
与低海拔相比，高海拔时SpO显著降低（P<0.0001）。在所有参与者中，无论是睁眼还是闭眼条件下，我们均未发现低海拔和高海拔之间、比较LL和TH时、或男性和女性之间CoP速度幅度或标准差有显著变化（P>0.1532）。睁眼时，TH的CoP速度显著高于LL（P=0.0090）。闭眼时，男性的摆动速度显著高于女性（P=0.0193）。
这些发现表明，逐步上升至4300米不会改变低地人和藏族高地人的站立平衡。这一发现与之前发现高海拔会损害站立平衡的研究相矛盾。未来需要开展工作来研究高海拔徒步模式和适应环境对站立平衡的影响。
