Effect of Attentional Touch in Stabilometric Assessments

NCT ID: NCT06066047

Last Updated: 2024-01-26

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 210 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-09-01
• Study Completion Date: 2024-01-20

Brief Summary

Postural balance has been studied in the literature and ideal body mass distribution has been shown to provide stability to the body in an upright position. The use of stabilometry to assess posture is a standard in clinical practice and medical research. In the literature we find osteopathic treatment evaluated with stabilometry in specific pathological conditions. We will experiment on asymptomatic volunteers how attentive touch is effective compared to non-attentive touch and compared to an untreated group by measuring specific parameters that indicate postural balance.

Detailed Description

Stabilometry measurements will be taken on asymptomatic volunteers before and after several specific treatments, in particular to measure whether the variance in sway speed is reduced after the treatments. The effect of attentional versus non-attentional touch will be compared in the other two groups, in addition to a control group that receives no treatment.

Conditions

Postural Balance

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

TOUCH ATTENTIVE TREATMENT

15 minutes of osteopathic treatment with operator's touch attention

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

TOUCH ATTENTIVE TREATMENT

Intervention Type: OTHER

15-minute treatment using constant touch (0.20 N, approx. 20 grams) developed after training with visual feedback.

• 5 minutes bilateral touch on external malleolus
• 5 minutes longitudinal occipital front grip for reciprocal tension membrane movement and Sutherland's fulcrum
• 5 minutes bilateral touch on acromion, for midline, centring diaphragms

Throughout the treatment, the practitioner maintained a focused attention on touch by voluntarily and constantly directing attention to the sensation/perception of the hands, perceiving texture, density, temperature, reactivity and motility of the tissue.

AUDITORY ATTENTIVE TREATMENT

15 minutes of osteopathic treatment with operator's auditory attention

Group Type: SHAM_COMPARATOR

AUDITORY ATTENTIVE TREATMENT

Intervention Type: OTHER

15-minute treatment using constant touch (0.20 N, approx. 20 grams) developed after training with visual feedback.

• 5 minutes bilateral touch on external malleolus
• 5 minutes longitudinal occipital front grip for reciprocal tension membrane movement and Sutherland's fulcrum
• 5 minutes bilateral touch on acromion, for midline, centring diaphragms

During the treatment, the operator's attention was focused on acoustic signals delivered through earphones. The beeps were delivered at random intervals between 0.5 and 2.0 seconds. The operator had to count the number of acoustic signals produced during the treatment period.

CONTROL

The volunteers lay for 15 minutes in the same environment as the volunteers in the other two groups, without being touched in any way.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

TOUCH ATTENTIVE TREATMENT

15-minute treatment using constant touch (0.20 N, approx. 20 grams) developed after training with visual feedback.

• 5 minutes bilateral touch on external malleolus
• 5 minutes longitudinal occipital front grip for reciprocal tension membrane movement and Sutherland's fulcrum
• 5 minutes bilateral touch on acromion, for midline, centring diaphragms

Throughout the treatment, the practitioner maintained a focused attention on touch by voluntarily and constantly directing attention to the sensation/perception of the hands, perceiving texture, density, temperature, reactivity and motility of the tissue.

Intervention Type: OTHER

AUDITORY ATTENTIVE TREATMENT

15-minute treatment using constant touch (0.20 N, approx. 20 grams) developed after training with visual feedback.

• 5 minutes bilateral touch on external malleolus
• 5 minutes longitudinal occipital front grip for reciprocal tension membrane movement and Sutherland's fulcrum
• 5 minutes bilateral touch on acromion, for midline, centring diaphragms

During the treatment, the operator's attention was focused on acoustic signals delivered through earphones. The beeps were delivered at random intervals between 0.5 and 2.0 seconds. The operator had to count the number of acoustic signals produced during the treatment period.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• aymptomatics

Exclusion Criteria

• serious illnesses
• balance disorders
• recent trauma (within 2 years) to the lower limbs

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Accademia Italiana Medicina Osteopatica

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Studio osteopatico Bettoni

Mantova, , Italy

Countries

Italy

Other Identifiers

003

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id