The Effect of Limb Dominance on Reaction Time and Anticipatory Postural Adjustments During Gait Initiation in Healthy Subjects

Abstract

Objectives: The stability and mobility function of dominant and non-dominant limbs are different. Considering the lack of any previous investigation in this regard, this study aimed to investigate the effect of limb dominancy on anticipatory postural adjustments and reaction time (RT) during gait initiation in healthy people. Materials and Methods: Twenty healthy people with the right limb dominant participated in the study. The two stimuli of warning and response were used within a 2-second interstimulus interval. In addition, the participants were instructed to get ready to initiate walking as soon as they hear the warning stimulus and initiate gait immediately after hearing the response stimulus, followed by measuring the RT and duration of the anticipatory postural adjustment phase. Results: The RT was slower when a person initiated gait with the dominant limb as compared with the non-dominant limb and no significant differences were observed in anticipatory postural adjustment phase duration between the two limbs. Conclusions: In general, our findings demonstrated that information processing capacity for perception, motor planning, and selection of proper motor responses for movement initiation is affected by limb dominance.

Keywords

• limb
• dominance
• reaction time
• postural balance
• gait initiation