This study investigated the effect and after-effect of lightly touching a real cane on postural sway and ankle muscle activity.

Participants performed a single-leg stance (SLS) task with their eyes closed for 30 s under three tasks. In the first and third tasks, the participants performed a normal SLS. In the second task, the participants in light-grip group (n = 11) were asked to perform SLS while lightly gripping a cane with their hand. The participants in depend-on-cane group (n = 11) were asked to support their own body with a cane.

Postural sway during a single-leg stance is decreased by light gripping and is accompanied by decreased co-contraction of the ankle-joint muscles. If a participant lightly gripped a cane, postural sway decreased not only during the light gripping but also immediately after the withdrawal of the cane. Although postural sway and co-contraction in the depend-on-cane group were significantly decreased during the second task compared to the first task, they were not significantly changed between the first and third tasks.

These results suggest that lightly gripped cane provides a haptic sensory cue that can be used to assist postural control mechanisms due to enhanced perception of self-motion through sensory interaction with the environment through the cane. Further, the haptic sensory cue during postural maintenance might be promoted as a practice effect of postural control.