Stability Limits of Standing Postural Control in Young Male Ving Tsun Chinese Martial Art Practitioners: A Pilot Study in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the stability limits of standing balance control between Ving Tsun (VT) practitioners and non-practitioners. Four male VT practitioners (mean age ± standard deviation = 26.3 ± 5.0 years) and 4 healthy active male adults (mean age ± standard deviation = 21.5 ± 2.4 years) as controls participated in the study. Balance ability, specifically limits of stability (LOS) in standing, was assessed using the LOS test. Outcome measures included reaction time, movement velocity, maximum excursion, end-point excursion and directional control in the forward, backward, right and left directions. Results revealed that VT practitioners had lower LOS maximum excursion scores in the backward direction (17.6% lower, p = 0.020), and lower directional control scores in both the backward direction (8.6% lower, p = 0.042) and to the right side (7.7% lower, p = 0.043) compared to the controls. No significant between-group differences in other outcome variables were found (p > 0.05). VT practitioners showed inferior LOS balance performance in standing compared to non-practitioners in general, except that they seemed to have better maximum excursion in the forward direction (effect size = 0.951). Further randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these results.