Stabilometry, a test to examine body balance in subjects standing upright, was evaluated for its significance in the focal diagnosis of vertigo and equilibrium disturbances.
1. The pattern on X-Y recording of sway of the body center of gravity (statokinesigram) showed a right-left sway in unilateral labyrinthine disturbances, a forward-backward sway in bilateral labyrinthine disturbances and a diffuse sway in spino-cerebellar degeneration (cerebellar form). The type of the statokinesigram suggests the site of the lesion in patients with equilibrium disturbances.
2. The area of the statokinsigram corresponded with the severity of vertigo and equilibrium disturbances. Measurement of the area was useful in following the course of the disease and in evaluating the effects of medical treatment and of equilibrium training.
3. Determination of the locus length per unit area (L/A) was useful in evaluating the fine control of standing posture by spinal proprioceptive reflexes.
4. Measurement of deviations of the center of body sway was useful in evaluating the severity of unilateral labyrinthine disturbances.
5. The Romberg coefficient was useful in testing the visual control of standing posture and in detecting disorders of spinal afferents, such as the posterior funiculus and the spinocerebellar pathway, and of the labyrinth.
For focal diagnosis in patients with equilibrium disturbances, it is important to evaluate the combined results of the above examinations.