ABSTRACT
In the first half of the 19th century, European physicians-including Marshall Hall,
Moritz Romberg, and Bernardus Brach-described loss of postural control in darkness
of patients with severely compromised proprioception. Romberg and Brach emphasized
the relationship between this sign and tabes dorsalis. Later, other neurologists evaluated
the phenomenon, which is now known as Romberg's sign, in a broader range of neurologic disorders using a variety of simple but increasingly
precise and sensitive clinical tests. In the late 19th century, neurologists also
developed instruments to measure and record postural sway in patients with neurologic
disease. Principal contributors included Philadelphia neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell
and his trainees Morris Lewis and Guy Hinsdale. The efforts of these neurologists
anticipated later physiologic studies and ultimately the development of computerized
dynamic platform posturography.
KEYWORD
Romberg sign - postural sway - tabes dorsalis (locomotor ataxia) - proprioception
- medical history-19th century - posturography
