Supervisors info:
Μανδαλίδης Δημήτριος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Αθλητικής Φυσικοθεραπείας, Σχολή Επιστήμης Φυσικής Αγωγής & Αθλητισμού, Εθνικό & Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
INTRODUCTION
Postural control involves controlling the body’s position and orientation in space through the interaction of the neural and musculoskeletal components. Achieving balance during static and dynamic functional tasks depends on the function of the sensory systems (somatosensory, visual and vestibular systems) and the organization of information from the Central Neural System. There is evidence that non-weight bearing activities, such as exercising in the water or in the outer space, af-fect the postural orientation and stability. Previous studies revealed that athletes with long term participation in activities that perform in the water demonstrate similar balance ability with people who do not exercise systematically and lower bal-ance performance than athletes that perform weight bearing activities. Body bal-ance may also be affected by the mobility and muscle strength of the ankle and the foot. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of prolonged, frequent and un-interrupted participation in non-weight bearing activities, such as aquatic sporting activities that performed in the water (etc. swimming and water polo), on the postural control.
METHOD
This study voluntary consisted 28 healthy female athletes who were involved for more than 8-10 years and for equal or more than 3 times/week in aquatic sporting (AS, n=14) activities and field sporting (FS, n=14) activities. The AS group (age 20.1 ± 1.4 years) was consisted of athletes on aquatic sporting activities that per-formed in the water, such as water polo and swimming and the FS group (age 21.5 ± 2.3 years) was consisted of athletes that participated in activities such as handball and basketball. Fifteen healthy females (age 22.0 ± 2.2 years) without regular participation in any sport, served as control (CO). The postural control was determined based on the single leg static balance and the dynamic balance using the Y-balance test. The isometric strength of the plantarflexors/dorsiflexors of the ankle joint and the evertors/invertors of the subtalar joint and as well as the passive range of mo-tion of the ankle, the midtarsal and the tarsometatarsal joints were also assessed in all participants.
RESULTS
The differences between groups regarding the static balance, the dynamic balance and the passive range of motion of the foot, were not affected by the long term participation in AS activities. The isometric muscle strength of the dorsiflexors, the evertors and the invertors was significantly higher in the AS group compared to both the FS (p<0.05) and the CO groups (p<0.05). Statistical significant correlations were found between the static and dynamic balance with the isometric muscle strength as well as the range of motion of the ankle and foot joints, particularly in the AS and CO groups (p<0.05 or p<0.01).
DISCUSSION – CONCLUSION
The findings revealed that postural control was not diminished by long term participation in AS activities that performed in the water. This could be due to the inap-propriateness of the clinical tests to detect possible differences between the groups regarding body balance, to the group of athletes who were selected to participate in FS activities and the anticipatory effects that contribute to the balance ability in weight bearing activities. The significant correlation between isometric strength of the ankle and the subtalar joint muscles and the static and dynamic balance in the AS athletes maybe is an anticipation process due to the long term participation in non-weight bearing activities. Further studies are required to determine the postural control of other weight bearing joints of the lower limb and the trunk.
Keywords:
aquatic sporting activities, postural control, static balance, dynamic balance
