Balance Training Through Ball Throwing Activities:

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to determine if throwing activities provide a challenging stimulus for training balance and to determine if there is a differential response in center of gravity (COG) excursion among different throwing activities. Thirty-one healthy adults between the ages of 55-69 years participated in this study. Subjects performed four throwing activities while standing on a force plate. COG maximal excursion in an anterior/posterior (AP) direction and in a medial/lateral (ML) direction was calculated from center of pressure (COP) measurements. All throwing activities demonstrated greater overall, AP, and ML COG movement when compared to quiet standing. Throwing activities produced more AP than ML COG excursion. Bilateral throwing activities caused greater AP excursion than unilateral throwing activities. Based on the acute effects of throwing activities on COG excursion, this study demonstrates that throwing activities provide a challenging stimulus for training balance in older adults.