Falls contribute to $19 billion in direct medical costs each year. Physical activity is often recommended to maintain and improve balance into older adulthood. Previous investigations show that several sports, including Tai Chi and martial arts may improve gait and posture. The present study sought to quantify whether martial arts training could improve recovery from gait perturbations such as treadmill induced tripping. Young, healthy martial artists and physically active control participants were recruited for participation. A treadmill tripping was employed to compare martial artists and healthy control participants. Recovery time was the primary outcome and was composed of response step time, the time between perturbation and heel strike of the opposing foot and execution time, the time between response step time and recovery of normal walking. Martial artists exhibited faster recovery times as well as execution times than control participants. Response step time, however, was slower in martial artists. This study suggests that martial arts training, which involves exposure to balance perturbations requiring rapid center of mass adjustments to maintain balance may lead to neuromuscular adaptations and a greater ability to recover from tripping perturbations than physical activities without an inherent balance component.
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