Postural stability in athletes: The role of sport direction

Abstract

Background: The bulk of relevant studies compare individual or very few sports and on small samples of athletes. This requires extensive analysing postural stability in various sports.

Research question: The main objective of our study was to identify the features of postural stability in a normal vertical stance in athletes of various kinds.

Methods: This study compares postural stability in a normal bipedal stance with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) conditions among athletes (n = 936, age: 6-47 years) from different sports and performance level. Postural stability was measured through the center of pressure (COP) sway area (AS) and velocity (VCP) while standing quietly in a normal bipedal position with EO and EC on a stabiloplatform (50 Hz).

Results: The order of VCP-EO increase in athletes compared to Control was as follows: Shooting (-11.3 %, p < .0001) < Football (-10.4 %, p < .0001) < Boxing (-8.7 %, p < .0001) < Cross-Country Skiing (-7.2 %, p < .0001) < Gymnastics (-7.0 %, p < .0001) < Running (-6.9 %, p < .0001) < Team Games Played with Hands (-6.8 %, p < .0001) < Wrestling (-6.3 %, p < .0001) < Tennis (-5.5 %, p = .0004) < Alpine Skiing (-5.4 %, p = .002) < Rowing (-5.0 %, p = .194) < Speed Skating (-4.7 %, p = .004) < Figure Skating (-3.6 %, p = .034) < Control.

Significance: Practicing any kind of sport was associated with increased postural stability in normal bipedal stance. This is the first study that provides reference values of COP sway and velocity with and without visual control on a stable force platform for different sport groups.

Keywords: Bipedal stance; Postural control; Sport; Stabilometry; Youth athletes.