Abstract
Postural stability is critical for safety in extreme environments like Antarctica, where falls pose a significant risk to expedition crews. However, systematic longitudinal studies from this setting are lacking. In the first such study, we repeatedly assessed postural control in thirteen members of a 49-day Antarctic mission using a low-cost, autonomous system under four sensory conditions (firm surface vs. compliant surface \(\times\) \(\times\) eyes open vs. eyes closed). We hypothesized that postural stability would initially deteriorate due to acute stress and environmental novelty, followed by gradual recovery and adaptation over the mid-term . Our comprehensive analysis revealed a marked deterioration of stability when visual or proprioceptive input was compromised, manifesting as increased sway and a shift toward less complex, more persistent control dynamics. Contrary to our hypothesis, no systematic longitudinal adaptation was detected. These findings highlight the increased reliance on visual information when proprioceptive cues are unreliable and suggest that postural strategies remain remarkably stable during a medium-term polar mission. Despite its known technical limitations, our work demonstrates the practical feasibility of using this autonomous system for field stabilometry in isolated environments.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the study are not publicly available due to ethical considerations and participant protection, but they are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Czech Antarctic Research Programme (CARP), Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, for logistical assistance and access to the J. G. Mendel Czech Antarctic Station.
Funding
This work was supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, grant TM05000017 ”Portable modular MoCap system for recording and evaluating the condition of members of the armed forces and first responders”.
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P.V.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft. M.S.: Formal Analysis, Data Curation, Software, Writing – Original Draft, L.L.: Investigation, Visualization, Writing – Review & Editing. J.H.: Investigation, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing. P.K.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Volf, P., Sokol, M., Leová, L. et al. Postural stability during a longitudinal expedition in an isolated and confined Antarctic environment. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36215-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36215-9
