Training improves the adaptation to changing visual conditions in maintaining human posture control in a test of sinusoidal oscillation of the support.

Balance control relies on somesthetic, visual and vestibular afferences, their central processing, and adequate motor responses. We studied the consequences on postural control of the suppression of visual afferences by eye closure, during a dynamic posturographic test in six sportsmen and 14 non-sportsmen. Suppression of visual afferences during the test led to a prolongation of the pattern initially recorded with eyes open, followed by a transitory adaptive pattern, then a typical eyes closed pattern. Repetition of the test showed a progressively longer persistence of the eyes open pattern and disappearance of the adaptive one. This evolution was significantly faster in sportsmen. This progressively longer duration of the eyes open pattern may be explained by the intervention of short term memory. Our data further indicate that training improves adaptive posture control.