Centre of pressure sway characteristics during static one-legged stance of athletes from different sports

Abstract

The frequency of one-legged stance and two-legged stance differs considerably among sports. We therefore expect the balance ability of athletes from different sports to vary. This study compared the sway characteristics during a static one-legged stance of soccer players, basketball players, swimmers, and non-athletes. The centre of pressure sway during one-legged stance of ten male participants representing each of the four groups was measured using a stabilometer. Centre of pressure sway was assessed by four sway factors: sway velocity, anterior-posterior sway, horizontal sway, and high-frequency sway. None of the four groups of participants showed significant differences in body sway between standing on the dominant leg and standing on the non-dominant leg. The soccer players had more high-frequency sway and less anterior-posterior sway and horizontal sway than the basketball players, swimmers, and non-athletes. These results suggest that soccer players have superior ability to maintain a stable one-legged stance. Further study is required to determine how much of the superior balance ability in soccer players is innate and how much is developed through training, as well as to determine the relationship between balance ability and playing performance.

Postural stability and lower leg muscle activity during a diagonal single-leg landing differs in male collegiate soccer players with and without functional ankle instability

“…players who do not perform balance training daily, and demonstrated the probability of postural stability deficits in FAI individuals. However, the findings from this study are insufficient to conclude whether individuals with FAI have postural stability deficits; sample bias may have been incurred because of the small number of participants (22) who were recruited from one university soccer team. Therefore, a study with adequate power calculations and a long-term follow-up study would be required to determine the presence of postural stability deficits in individuals with FAI.…”

“…The study investigated the fatigue effects for sensorimotor control in FAI individuals recruited from various sports, such as basketball and soccer. However, Matsuda et al 22) reported that balance ability to a stable one-legged stance in soccer players was higher than that in the basketball players. The difference in balance ability may influence the result of this study.…”

“…While findings from several cross-sectional studies have highlighted the postural deficits during landing tasks in those with an unstable ankle 19,20,34,35) , Staib et al 21) have reported no significant difference in postural stability between individuals with and those without FAI. The contradictory results may arise because of variation in the balance ability, which is different among various sports 22) and improved by balance disk training 26,37) . The present study was only targeted at male collegiate soccer Abbreviation: TTSAP, time to anteroposterior stabilization.…”

Relationships between Balance and Functional Performance in Football Players

“…Balance performance can be developed through resistance, flexibility, aerobic and anaerobic training (Judge et al, 1993;Messier et al, 2000;Shintaku et al, 2005). Football players use their one leg as support leg when kicking a ball and in possession of the ball (Adlerton et al, 2003;Kellis et al, 2001) and have better one-legged stance stability (Matsuda et al, 2008). Hence, we expect that sprint, acceleration, anaerobic run, vertical or horizontal jump may be related with balance performance in football players.…”

Characteristics of Static and Dynamic Balance Abilities in Competitive Swimmers

“…Static balance has been assessed by measuring the center sway of body gravity while standing [15,16,17]. A Gravicorder G5500 (Anima, Japan) was used to measure foot pressure in this study.…”