Dynamic Balance in High Level Athletes

The purpose of this study was to investigate dynamic balance performance in highly skilled athletes. Participating athletes were currently competing at the collegiate Division I, professional, elite, or Olympic levels, or their individual coaches believed the athlete performed comparably to these levels. High level male and female gymnasts (n=57, M age=17.3 yr., SD=4.1), soccer players (n=58, M age= 19.8 yr., SD=1.6), swimmers (n=70, M age= 17.1 yr., SD=2.5), and individuals with no formal competitive sport experience (n=61, M age= 16.8 yr., SD= 2.0) volunteered. Dynamic balance performance was measured on a stabilometer, which requires participants to continuously adjust posture to maintain an unstable platform in the horizontal position for 30 sec. Each participant performed 3 practice trials followed by 7 test trials. Analysis indicated that athletes were superior to nonathletes in balance performance. Gymnasts performed better on the dynamic balance task than all other groups. Soccer players and swimmers performed similarly and were superior to the control subjects. There was no difference between the performance of men and women. Moderate to high negative correlations were found between dynamic balance performance and height and weight.