The Effects of Open and Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises on Visual Reaction Times and Certain Motor Skills in Young Male Boxers

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effects of open kinetic chain (OKC) and closed kinetic chain (CKC) exercises on visual reaction times and certain motor skills in young male boxers. Twelve young male athletes (mean age: 16.92±1.08 years) voluntarily participated in this study, which employed a pretest-posttest experimental research model, a quantitative research method, without a control group. The Ethics Committee Approval required for the research was received from Muş Alparslan University Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Committee with decision number 9/73 dated 08.11.2023. Prior to and following training in OKC and CKC exercises, the athletes were tested on visual reaction times, vertical jumping, and flexibility. The paired samples t-test was applied to normally distributed data. According to our findings, there were no significant differences in the visual reaction time and flexibility tests with respect to the pre- and post-test results for the OKC exercises (p ˃ .05), although a significant difference was detected for the vertical jump test (p ˂ .05), with the post-test values determined to be lower than the pre-test values. While there were no significant differences in the CKC exercise pre-and post-test results for the vertical jump and flexibility tests (p ˃.05), a significant difference was observed in the visual reaction test (p ˂ .05), for which the post-test values were lower than the pre-test values. Based on these results, OKC exercises were determined to have a negative impact on jumping ability, whereas CKC exercises exhibited positive effects on visual reaction times. The use of CKC exercises can thus be recommended for studies aimed at improving visual reaction performance in young male boxers.