Comparison of static and dynamic balance in female collegiate soccer, basketball, and gymnastics athletes

Abstract

Context: How athletes from different sports perform on balance tests is not well understood. When prescribing balance exercises to athletes in different sports, it may be important to recognize performance variations.

Objective: To compare static and dynamic balance among collegiate athletes competing or training in soccer, basketball, and gymnastics.

Design: A quasi-experimental, between-groups design. Independent variables included limb (dominant and nondominant) and sport played.

Setting: A university athletic training facility.

Patients or other participants: Thirty-four female volunteers who competed in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I soccer (n = 11), basketball (n = 11), or gymnastics (n = 12).

Intervention(s): To assess static balance, participants performed 3 stance variations (double leg, single leg, and tandem leg) on 2 surfaces (stiff and compliant). For assessment of dynamic balance, participants performed multidirectional maximal single-leg reaches from a unilateral base of support.

Main outcome measure(s): Errors from the Balance Error Scoring System and normalized leg reach distances from the Star Excursion Balance Test were used to assess static and dynamic balance, respectively.

Results: Balance Error Scoring System error scores for the gymnastics group were 55% lower than for the basketball group (P = .01), and Star Excursion Balance Test scores were 7% higher in the soccer group than the basketball group (P = .04).

Conclusions: Gymnasts and soccer players did not differ in terms of static and dynamic balance. In contrast, basketball players displayed inferior static balance compared with gymnasts and inferior dynamic balance compared with soccer players.

Figure 1. Top view of Star Excursion Balance Test grid. The grid displays directional terms for right leg dominance. Directional terms were mirrored for left leg dominance, and poses represent techniques for posterior and lateral directions

Figure 2. Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) values (mean ± SEM) for soccer, basketball, and gymnastics athletes. Values are the means for the dominant and nondominant limbs. *Indicates that gymnasts committed fewer errors than basketball players did (P = .01).

Figure 3. Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) values (mean ± SEM) for soccer, basketball, and gymnastics athletes. Values represent the means for the dominant and nondominant limbs. *Indicates that soccer players displayed greater reach distances than basketball players did (P = .04).