Relationship between postural oscillations on an unstable support and variations of the force of grip on a hand-held object

The relationship between postural oscillations and variations of the force of grip on a finger-held object while keeping balance on an unstable support was studied. The distribution median of the intervals between peaks in the sagittal stabilogram and the nearest peaks in the grip force recording from one and the same test proved smaller than that obtained from different tests. The proportion of intervals shorter than 175 ms was greater in real records than in “fictitious” ones. Thus, there is a connection between changes in the grip force and postural oscillations, and the balance control system can use signals from finger skin receptors to improve the stability of an upright posture.