Postural Control in Unipedal Quiet Stance in Young Female Gymnasts and the Effects of Training with Consideration of Transient Behavior of Postural Sway.

Urška Čeklić,Žiga Kozinc,Nejc Šarabon

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020982

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare postural control between a group of young female gymnasts (n = 15; age: 11.2 ± 1.9 years) and non-trained peers (n = 15; age: 10.9 ± 2.0 years), and (b) to investigate the effect of an 8-week whole body exercise intervention program on postural control in young female gymnasts. Postural control was assessed by recording center of pressure (CoP) movements during unipedal quiet stance. Velocity and amplitude of CoP movement in anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions were considered. In addition to common trial-averaged CoP outcomes, we also considered the transient behavior of CoP movements, by calculating relative differences between the 1st and 2nd, and the 1st and 3rd 10-s intervals within the whole trial (DIF_21 and DIF_31, respectively). The gymnast group had lower total CoP velocity (Cohen’s d = 0.97) and AP amplitude (Cohen’s d = 0.85), compared to their non-trained peers. The gymnasts also had lower CoP AP amplitude DIF21 (Cohen’s d = 0.73), with almost constant values across all intervals. After the training ML CoP velocity was reduced for 13.12% (Cohen’s d = 0.60), while ML CoP amplitude increased (Cohen’s d = −0.89).

Highlights

Received: 4 January 2022Postural sway reflects the ability of individuals to maintain stable body position in static or dynamic situations
Our results suggest that balance ability is improved as a result of gymnastic training in youth
Our results showed group differences in the index of transient behavior in center of pressure (CoP) AP-DIF21, which was lower in gymnasts compared to control peers

Summary

Introduction

Received: 4 January 2022Postural sway reflects the ability of individuals to maintain stable body position in static or dynamic situations. Postural control is developed and refined throughout childhood, and has an important influence on development of complex motor skills [1]. Postural control depends on sensory perception (visual, vestibular, proprioceptive) [2], sensory integration [3], and motor actions [4]. Gymnastics is a sport that involves very specific tasks, requiring high level of fine postural control [5,6]. Garcia et al [7] suggested that performing activities with high demands for maintaining body orientation and equilibrium in gymnastics results in further refinement of postural control, compared to the general population. Gymnasts often have to adopt unipedal rather than bipedal stance during their training [6], which results in improved postural control during specific, more complex gymnastic movements [9,10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion