Figure 1.

(A) Subjects stood with feet in tandem position on a force platform, with EC or EO, the cane resting on a second platform. (B–M) shows the mean value of the recorded signals in one representative subject. (B–E) vertical position of the marker placed close to the cane tip. (F–I) force applied by the cane onto the ground. (J–M) medio-lateral CoP oscillations, larger during EC than EO. With EC, after a short delay from the instant at which the cane was lifted, the oscillation amplitude increased (J, t = 15 s). Conversely, after the NT-T shift (K) the oscillation diminished. With EO (L,M), no differences were obvious in the oscillations after the changes in haptic condition. The dotted boxes in (J–M) show the time intervals in which the oscillations were considered stationary and not affected by the shift in haptic condition.