Postural sway in young female artistic and acrobatic gymnasts according to training experience and anthropometric characteristics

Static Postural Control during Single-Leg Stance in Endurance, Team and Combat Athletes from the Spanish National Sport Technification Program

In the context of pediatric physical exercise, the analysis of factors affecting postural control (PC) provides insight into the development of sport-specific motor skills. This study aims to evaluate the static PC during single-leg stance in endurance, team and combat athletes from the Spanish National Sport Technification Program. A total of 29 boys and 32 girls, aged 12 to 16 years old, were recruited. Centre of pressure (CoP) was measured on a force platform in standing position for 40 s under two sensorial and leg dominance conditions. Girls showed lower MVeloc (p < 0.001), MFreq (p > 0.001) and Sway (p < 0.001) values than boys in both sensorial conditions (open and closed eyes). The highest values in all PC variables were observed with eyes closed in both genders (p < 0.001). Sway values were lower in boys combat-athletes compared to endurance athletes in two sensorial conditions and with non-dominant leg (p < 0.05). Young athletes in their teens enrolled in a Sport Technification Program have shown differences in PC when comparing different visual conditions, sport disciplines and gender. This study opens a window to a better understanding of the determinants of PC during single-leg stance as a critical element in the sport specialization of young athletes.

THE STATE OF THE ART IN ACROBATIC GYMNASTICS: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Since acrobatic gymnastics is a recent gymnastics discipline, with only a few decades old, with only a few decades old, it is not yet much explored as a scientific research field. Despite its increasing popularity, and while science mapping has become an essential activity for all scientific disciplines, no bibliometric analysis on this topic was available. Therefore, this study aims to provide a static picture of the scientific research development in acrobatic gymnastics by collecting information about the main contributors as well as the main investigation topics, the publication dynamics and cooperative networks. A search conducted in the Web of Science and Scopus databases retrieved 37 journal articles between 2001-2021. Results suggest that the year of 2015 was a milestone for scientific research in acrobatic gymnastics since it marked the beginning of the dominance of authors from Spain, followed by Poland and Portugal. Countries are generally focused on their own territory and there is a limited scientific collaboration between different nations. The Spanish and the Polish research institutions are leading publishing in this sport. As a reference for future studies, our results suggest that although balance was identified as the niche investigation topic, there has been a lack of interest for the pyramids balance, which is a major feature of acrobatic gymnastics.

Influence of Foot Morphology on the Center of Pressure Pattern in Patients with Down Syndrome

BACKGROUND

The primary aim of this study was to assess how different conformations of the foot in individuals with Down syndrome affected the CoP during walking, and the secondary aim was to evaluate the effect of an excess of mass in young adults and children with Down syndrome and flat foot. The greater investigation of these aspects will allow for more targeted rehabilitation treatments to improve a patient's quality of life.

METHODS

The tests were carried out on 217 subjects with Down syndrome, 65 children and 152 young adults, and on 30 healthy individuals, 19 children and 11 young adults. All subjects underwent gait analysis, and the group with Down syndrome was also assessed with baropodometric tests to evaluate foot morphology.

RESULTS

The statistical analysis showed that within both the young adult and child groups, the CoP pattern in the anterior-posterior direction reflected a difficulty in proceeding in the walking direction compensated by a medio-lateral swing. The gait of children with Down syndrome was more impaired than that of young adults. In both young adults and children, a higher severity of impairment was found in overweight and obese female individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the sensory deficits and the development of hypotonic muscles and lax ligaments of the syndrome lead to morphological alterations of the foot that, combined with the physical characteristics of short stature and obesity, negatively impact the CoP pattern of people with Down syndrome during walking.

Sport-specific training induced adaptations in postural control and their relationship with athletic performance

Effects of various exercise programs on postural balance control in athletes and their underlying physiological mechanisms have been extensively investigated. However, little is known regarding how challenging sport-specific conditions contribute to the improvement of body balance and to what extent these changes may be explained by sensorimotor and/or neuromuscular function adaptations. Analysis of the literature could provide useful information on the interpretation of changes in postural sway variables in response to long-term sport-specific training and their association with performance measures. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review was (1) to analyze the literature investigating postural control adaptations induced by sport-specific training and their relationship with measures of athletic performance, and (2) to identify gaps in the existing research and to propose suggestions for future studies. A literature search conducted with Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE and Cochrane Library was completed by Elsevier, SpringerLink and Google Scholar with no date restrictions. Overall, 126 articles were eligible for inclusion. However, the association between variables of postural balance control and measures of sport-specific performance was investigated in only 14 of the articles. A relationship between static and/or dynamic balance and criterion measures of athletic performance was revealed in shooting, archery, golf, baseball, ice-hockey, tennis, and snowboarding. This may be ascribed to improved ability of athletes to perform postural adjustments in highly balanced task demands. However, the extent to which sport-specific exercises contribute to their superior postural stability is unknown. Although there is a good deal of evidence supporting neurophysiological adaptations in postural balance control induced by body conditioning exercises, little effort has been made to explain balance adaptations induced by sport-specific exercises and their effects on athletic performance. While an enhancement in athletic performance is often attributed to an improvement of neuromuscular functions induced by sport-specific balance exercises, it can be equally well ascribed to their improvement by general body conditioning exercises. Therefore, the relevant experiments have yet to be conducted to investigate the relative contributions of each of these exercises to improving athletic performance.

SPECIFICITY AND DIVERSITY OF ATHLETIC ABILITY NEEDS AMONG PROFESSIONAL GYMNASTS

ABSTRACT Introduction Gymnastics sports require athletes to have exceptional physical fitness. Distinct specific training methods, when mastered, can elevate the functional capacity and athletic abilities of professionals. In this way, athletes can better perform their abilities in competition. Objective Analyze the physical training methods of gymnasts. In parallel, this paper analyzes the impact of functional training methods on gymnasts’ physical fitness and competition performance. Methods This paper selects several gymnasts as research objects. The gymnasts were randomly divided into two groups (experimental and control groups). The experimental group used functional training. The control group used traditional training methods. This paper tests and records the athletes’ fitness before and after training. The mathematical statistics method allows the collected data to be analyzed and discussed. Results There was a big difference in the fitness index between the experimental and control groups (P<0.05). Conclusion Functional training helps to improve the physical performance of gymnasts. Functional training programs can effectively enhance the response of the phasic muscles, positively influencing motor agility. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment outcomes.

The Role of Neuromuscular Control of Postural and Core Stability in Functional Movement and Athlete Performance

Balance and core stabilization exercises have often been associated with improved athlete performance and/or decreased incidence of injuries. While these exercises seem to be efficient in the prevention of injuries, there is insufficient evidence regarding their role in sport-specific performance and related functional movements. The aim of this scoping review is (1) to map the literature that investigates whether currently available variables of postural and core stability are functionally related to athlete performance in sports with high demands on body balance and spinal posture and (2) to identify gaps in the literature and suggest further research on this topic. The literature search conducted on MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases was completed by Google Scholar, SpringerLink, and Elsevier. Altogether 21 articles met the inclusion criteria. Findings revealed that postural stability plays an important role in performance in archery, biathlon, gymnastics, shooting, and team sports (e.g., basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis). Also core stability and strength represent an integral part of athlete performance in sports based on lifting tasks and trunk rotations. Variables of these abilities are associated with performance-related skills in cricket, cycling, running, and team sports (e.g., baseball, football, hockey, netball, soccer, tennis). Better neuromuscular control of postural and core stability contribute to more efficient functional movements specific to particular sports. Training programs incorporating general and sport-specific exercises that involve the use of postural and core muscles showed an improvement of body balance, back muscle strength, and endurance. However, there is controversy about whether the improvement in these abilities is translated into athletic performance. There is still a lack of research investigating the relationship of body balance and stability of the core with sport-specific performance. In particular, corresponding variables should be better specified in relation to functional movements in sports with high demands on postural and core stability. Identifying the relationship of passive, active, and neural mechanisms underlying balance control and spinal posture with athlete performance would provide a basis for a multifaced approach in designing training and testing tools addressing postural and core stability in athletes under sport-specific conditions.

Effects of Fatigue on Postural Sway and Electromyography Modulation in Young Expert Acrobatic Gymnasts and Healthy Non-trained Controls During Unipedal Stance

This study investigated whether expert acrobatic gymnasts respond differentially than their non-trained counterparts during a single-legged stance task performed before and after a protocol designed to induce fatigue in the ankle plantarflexor muscles in terms of (a) postural steadiness and (b) electromyography (EMG) activation. We hypothesized that neuromuscular adaptation due to training would lead to different behavior of center of pressure (COP) and EMG quantifiers after fatigue. Twenty eight female volunteers (aged 11 to 24 years) formed two groups: expert acrobatic gymnastics athletes (GYN, n = 14) and age-matched non-gymnasts [control (CTRL), n = 14]. Fatigue of the ankle plantarflexors (dominant leg) was induced by a sustained posture (standing on the toes) until exhaustion. Traditional COP parameters (area, RMS, mean velocity, and power spectrum at low and high frequency ranges) were obtained with a force plate, and time and frequency-domain EMG parameters were obtained by surface electrodes positioned on the tibialis anterior, soleus, lateral gastrocnemius, medial gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, spinal erector and rectus abdominis muscles. The main results showed that fatigue induced a significant increase in postural oscillations in the ML axis (including RMS, velocity and frequency components of the power spectrum), with no significant effects in the AP axis. In terms of postural sway parameters (i.e., COP quantifiers), no superior balance stability was found for the GYN group as compared to CTRL, irrespective of the fatigue condition. On the other hand, the modulation of EMG parameters (in both time and frequency domains) indicated that expert acrobatic gymnastics athletes (as compared to healthy untrained matched controls) used different neuromuscular control strategies to keep their postures on single-legged quiet standing after the fatiguing protocol. The present results improve our knowledge of the mechanisms behind the interplay between fatigue and postural performance associated with the neuromuscular adaptations induced by sport practice. The design of gymnastics training might consider strategies aimed at improving the performance of specific muscles (i.e., tibialis anterior, soleus, biceps femoris, spinal erector) for which particular activation patterns were used by the acrobatic gymnastics to control single-legged quiet standing.