The Effect of Unilateral and Bilateral Foot Dominance on Sprinting Speed of Young Athletes

Abstract

Purpose: Footedness as a predictor of brain hemispheric dominance cause performance differences in movement and sports performance. This study aimed to investigate the 30 m sprint speed difference between unilateral and bilateral foot dominance in 156 male and 37 female athletes.Material Method: It was assumed that all participants exerted maximum effort during 30 m sprint test in the entrance examination for schools of physical education and sports. The participants with right and left foot dominance were accepted as “unilateral footed” while participants kicking the ball with two foot were recognized as “bilateral footed”. For testing differences between two groups Mann Whitney U tests were used.Results: There was only significant difference in the second attempt of 30 meters sprints between unilateral and bilateral footed male participants. Bilateral footed males were 2.81% faster than unilateral footers. Sprint speed difference was 11.97% for first trial and 10.43% for second trial in between unilateral and bilateral footed female participants. However, this difference was statistically insignificant due to lower number of bilateral athletes in our study.Conclusion: Unilateral and bilateral foot dominance can be useful criteria in the selection of talented sprinters and in the planning and monitoring of training.

Effect of Handedness and Footedness on Some Motoric Characteristics in Amateur Soccer Players

“…These findings are not supported by Fisekcioglu (2011) who reported that in terms of simple Auditory Reaction time, left -handed taekwondo players perform better than right -handed ones. Selç uk et al, (2019) found that bilateral footed males were 2.81% faster than unilateral footed males. Researchers (Grace et al 1984) have shown that the current dominant and non-dominant leg force difference in athletes greater than 10% may cause injury.…”

The effect of football basic technical training using unilateral leg on bilateral leg transfer in male children

“…The fact that initial practice of a motor task with one body side leads to subsequent performance with the other body side was shown in many studies that investigated upper limb [11][12][13] and lower limb movements 1,14 . However, only a few studies investigated bilateral practice of sports skills for the lower extremities or included experienced athletes especially in team sports, and the few studies that were found indicate inconsistent results 15,16 .…”