Reactive Postural Responses In Collegiate Athletes

Abstract

Athletes frequently need to recover balance after an external disturbance during tasks with high cognitive demand. Mobility impaired populations demonstrate deficits in reactive postural responses to backward and lateral perturbations but, little is known about postural responses in college athletes. PURPOSE: To examine differences in direction and task (single [ST] and dual task [DT]) in reactive postural response measures during the push-and-release (P&R) test. METHODS: Reactive postural responses in 98 healthy (F=42, age 19.3 ± 1.60 years, BMI 23.56 ± 3.29 kg/m2) college athletes were assessed using the P&R in four directions (forward, backward, right, left), with eyes closed, under ST and DT (concurrent verbal cognitive task) conditions. Inertial sensors on the sternum, lumbar, right tibia, and feet were used to assess step initiation latency, time of first heel contact (HC), and time to stabilization (TTS). A sensor on the tester’s hand determined release time. Linear mixed models with random intercepts were used to determine if postural response measures differed by direction and task. RESULTS: There was a significant interaction between direction and task for HC (p=0.04), with the largest difference in DT and ST in the forward direction (95%CI = [0.05, 0.08]), and the smallest difference in the backward direction (95%CI = [0.02, 0.05]). There were also significant main effects for direction (p <0.0001) and task (p<0.0001) for each postural response (latency, HC, TTS). Means adjusted for age, sex, and BMI are presented below.CONCLUSION: Postural responses differ by direction during the P&R in college athletes. The largest differences were between the forward and backward directions. These directions may be most sensitive to detecting changes in reactive postural control; future work will examine the utility of the P&R for return-to-play decisions. Supported by PAC 12 (PI: Fino, Dibble); University of Utah Study Design and Biostatistics Center (UL1TR002538)