抄録
“Tanden, ” a Japanese term for the lower abdominal region below the navel, is believed in oriental physical arts to be extremely important in maintaining vitality, staying calm, and taking rational action. In this paper, we examine whether the “tanden” focus of attention exherts an influence on postural control. The effectiveness of this “tanden” focus of attention on postural control is estimated by observing the equilibrium of subjects tasked with standing upright while following different sets of instructions. Four groups of subjects are instructed to stand still with minimal body sway while standing on a force-plate system that measures their center of pressure (COP). Each group is given different instructions: One group focuses on markers placed 26 cm away from the middle line of the force plate (external focus), a second focuses on their feet (internal focus), and the third on their “tanden” (internal focus). The control group is given no specific focus instructions. The parameters of equilibrium are the length of COP, average velocity of COP, and ellipse area of COp.The results show: 1) The length of COP is significantly shorter (p<0.05) in the “tanden” focus group than in the feet-focus group and the control group.2) The average velocity of COP is significantly slower (p<0.05) in the “tanden” focus group than in the feet-focus group and the control group.3) In the ellipse area of COP, there is no difference among the four groups. These results suggest that “tanden” focus of attention attenuates body sway.
