Postural stability of polish special forces operators

Abstract

The level of balance can play an essential role in a soldier's performance. For a Special Forces soldier, the footwear used or extra weight may be important factors affecting their balance level during combat operations or trainings. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to assess the level of static balance of Special Forces Operators and to determine the influence of select elements of a soldier's combat uniform and equipment on balance levels. The study group consisted of 37 Polish Special Forces Operators. To assess the level of static balance, the Romberg test was used in three variants (barefoot, with shoes, and with shoes, helmet, and vest). The measurements were made using the AMTI AccuGait portable force platform. The results of the analysis showed that the calculated average values of selected static balance parameters of soldiers differed depending on the variant of the Romberg test used, and in most cases, those differences were statistically significant ( $\alpha <0.05$ ). The lowest average values of parameters characterizing the level of static balance of Special Forces soldiers were calculated for barefoot measurements. The measurements with shoes and additional loads showed a statistically significant increase in almost all analysed parameters compared to barefoot measurements.

Keywords: External load; Soldiers; Static balance.

Fig. 1

Experimental set-up; (a) Barefoot; (b) Shoes; (c) Equipment.

Fig. 2

The confidence interval (95%) and the mean value of the Romberg ratio [%] for different trials.