Postural Control Exam 3 Practice

Center of Pressure is the point on the surface where the combined ground reaction force is applied. It represents the weighted average location of the pressure distribution under the foot—the centroid of the contact pressure across the support area. This point shifts as you sway to maintain balance and reflects how muscle activity redistributes load across the sole. It is not the center of mass (which describes the body’s mass distribution) and it isn’t the base of support (the area of contact itself). The description that captures CoP best is the center of distribution of the total force applied to the supporting surface.