スキーおよび体操競技選手の体平衡

Abstract

The effects of sports training on equilibrium function were evaluated with Equi-TestTM. Posture control of athletes was evaluated by sensory organization test (SOT) and movement coordination test (MCT). The SOT evaluates postural stability under 6 conditions such as a reduction in visual and/or somatosensory information. The MCT evaluates the strength of postural response to the acute translations of force plates. The protocols and results were as follows:(1) Two groups were tested. Group 1 included 14 ski runners from the ski club at our university. Group 2 was a 12-subject control group with no sports training. Both groups were tested in October before the ski season and in April of the next year, after the ski season. In both examinations, the postural stability in SOT of the ski group was better than that of the control group in conditions 4 to 6. Furthermore, in conditions 3 to 6, the stability of ski group in April had improved compared to that in October, suggesting that ski training contributed to the improvement of equilibrium function. The response strength in backward translation had significantly decreased in April in both groups, but that in forward translation significantly decreased only in the ski group, suggesting that the skilled skiers might become able to utilize minimal appropriate response strength to perturbations.(2) Thirteen female high school gymnasts were tested. In SOT, correlation between postural stability and the number of training years was analyzed. The findings showed that postural stability tended to become worse as the number of training years increased, which may due to the specificity of training for this sport.The findings in these two studies suggest that equilibrium function varies among sports.