Non-Invasive Evaluation of Heart Rate Variability During Platform Balance Test

Neuromuscular activity also increases as we try to maintain our balance. Neuromuscular activity also causes changes in heart-rate-variability parameters. In the measurement of heart-rate-variability, recordings are generally taken for 5-minutes or longer. However, in recent years, ultra-short-term heart-rate-variability measurements from 5-minutes to 10-seconds have been made, especially in physical capacity measurement. The aim of the present study is to compare the heart-rate-variability parameters between the groups formed according to the performance before, during and, after the dynamic balance test. The sixty-three healthy males were recruited (age=25.8±3.3 years; height=176.6±5.5; weight=77.6±8.0) participated voluntarily. Heart-rate-variability was recorded for 60-seconds prior to testing. Afterwards, the participants were taken to the platform without shoes.Heart-rate-variability was recorded for 60-seconds at this time and 60-seconds at the end of the test. At the end of the balance test, according to the test procedure of the balance device, those who could stay in the A, B, C, D regions the most, that is, in the region closest to the center point, were grouped as the 1st group (n=38) and the others as the 2nd group (n=25). As a result of the study, a statistically significant difference was found between the groups in terms of heart rate variability changes for normalized low-frequency and normalized high-frequency significant differences were found between which groups (p<0.05). As a result, it was concluded in our study that participants with better balance skills had higher heart-rate-variability values. Considering that heart rate variability is also an indicator of fatigue, we can say that the implementation of exercises aimed at improving balance skills will contribute to the autonomic nervous system of the athletes.