The Impact of Surgical Breast Reduction on the Postural Control of Women with Breast Hypertrophy

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of breast reduction surgery on the daily lives of women, including impacts directly related to changes in postural control such as a reduced center-of-pressure displacement. However, postural control is a dynamic process that depends on the integration of sensory information to organize a proper motor strategy to overcome the balance demands of the task. This study evaluated sensory integration in the postural control of women with breast hypertrophy after breast reduction surgery. In this study, 14 women with breast hypertrophy were evaluated before surgery and 6 months afterward. A force platform was used to assess how the somatosensory, visual, and vestibular systems contributed to postural control. Four conditions were used: eyes open/fixed platform (normal condition), eyes closed/fixed platform, eyes open/mobile platform, and eyes closed/mobile platform. For each condition, a nonparametric Friedman test was applied to compare the area and velocity of the center-of-pressure displacement between pre- and post-surgery tests. After surgery, the women demonstrated a smaller displacement area under normal conditions and in the eyes closed/fixed platform condition. The mean velocity in the forward-backward direction was significantly reduced after surgery when the women's eyes were closed on a mobile platform. After breast reduction surgery, women were found to control their posture with a smaller center-of-pressure displacement area when all sensory information was available and when their vision was suppressed with a fixed platform. Furthermore, the velocities were smaller when vision was suppressed with inaccurate somatosensory information.