Vidovič Marko, Kafel Tibor, Šuc Lea, Rugelj Darja, Weber Daša
Rehabilitation Institute, Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Front Physiol. 2025 Jun 3;16:1567227. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1567227. eCollection 2025.
Postural stability during quiet standing relies on effective sensorimotor integration. Sensory stimulation techniques, commonly applied to the lower limbs, have been used to enhance sensory input and reduce postural sway. This study investigated the immediate effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) applied over the tibialis anterior (TA) and triceps surae (TS) muscles on postural sway in healthy young adults. A secondary aim was to compare the postural responses between the two stimulation sites.
Twenty healthy volunteers (28.1 ± 3.8 years) participated in this study. Supra-threshold TENS at 100 Hz was applied over the TA and TS muscles in two separate sessions. Four postural sway variables were analyzed in the time domain: center of pressure (CoP) velocity, mediolateral and anteroposterior path lengths, and sway area. Testing was performed under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions.
TENS applied over the TA muscle significantly decreased mediolateral sway path length under eyes-closed conditions. No significant effects were observed for stimulation over the TS muscle, nor for either site under eyes-open conditions.
These findings suggest that supra-threshold TENS at 100 Hz applied over the TA muscle may improve postural stability in more demanding sensory conditions (i.e., eyes closed), with effects specifically observed in the mediolateral direction. No significant impact of TS stimulation was found under either visual condition. Further research is warranted to investigate the effects of prolonged or repeated TENS application and its potential to enhance postural control.
安静站立时的姿势稳定性依赖于有效的感觉运动整合。通常应用于下肢的感觉刺激技术已被用于增强感觉输入并减少姿势摆动。本研究调查了经皮电神经刺激（TENS）应用于胫骨前肌（TA）和小腿三头肌（TS）对健康年轻成年人姿势摆动的即时影响。第二个目的是比较两个刺激部位之间的姿势反应。
20名健康志愿者（28.1±3.8岁）参与了本研究。在两个单独的时段中，以100Hz的阈上TENS分别应用于TA和TS肌肉。在时域中分析了四个姿势摆动变量：压力中心（CoP）速度、内外侧和前后路径长度以及摆动面积。测试在睁眼和闭眼条件下进行。
在闭眼条件下，应用于TA肌肉的TENS显著降低了内外侧摆动路径长度。在TS肌肉上进行刺激未观察到显著影响，在睁眼条件下对两个部位均未观察到显著影响。
这些发现表明，在TA肌肉上应用100Hz的阈上TENS可能在更苛刻的感觉条件下（即闭眼）改善姿势稳定性，且在内外侧方向上有特别明显的效果。在两种视觉条件下，均未发现TS刺激有显著影响。有必要进一步研究长期或重复应用TENS的效果及其增强姿势控制的潜力。
