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

Abstract

Background Gymnastics training enhances the development of postural control in children and adolescents. In competitive gymnastics, the training regimen is specific to the given gymnastic discipline and is usually followed from the early years of practicing. This study aimed to determine whether postural steadiness differed between young gymnasts practicing two distinct disciplines, and whether it was related to the duration of their training experience, age, and their anthropometric characteristics. Methods Thirty 10–13-year-old females ̶ ten artistic gymnasts, ten acrobatic gymnasts (training as “tops”), and ten non-athletes ̶ were examined during 60-s quiet standing trials on a force platform with the eyes open and closed. Their postural sway was represented by directional components of centre of foot pressure mean velocity. Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon and Spearman’s ρ tests were used for analyses. Results Anterior-posterior and medial-lateral centre of foot pressure mean velocities were not different between the artistic and acrobatic gymnasts (p > 0.05). In the artistic gymnasts, the duration of training experience, age, body height, body mass, and maturity offset were negatively correlated with the anterior-posterior centre of foot pressure mean velocity under eyes-open conditions. The acrobatic gymnasts’ body mass and BMI percentiles were negatively correlated with their anterior-posterior and medial-lateral centre of foot pressure mean velocities under both visual conditions (r ranged from − 0.64 to − 0.93; p < 0.05). The non-athletes’ centre of foot pressure mean velocities were non-significantly correlated with their age and anthropometric measures under both visual conditions (p > 0.05). Conclusions The artistic gymnasts’ longer training experience, greater age, body height, body mass, and biological maturity were associated with better anterior-posterior postural steadiness when vision was available; the acrobatic gymnasts’ greater body mass and BMI percentiles were associated with better overall postural steadiness regardless of visual conditions. Relationships were observed between postural steadiness and discipline-specific training experience and anthropometric characteristics; however, causes and effects were not proven.

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

“…Center of pressure (COP) analyses showed that fatigue induced a significant increase in postural oscillations in the ML axis, with no significant effects in the AP axis, whereas no superior stability was found for the GYN group as compared to CTRL in terms of postural sway parameters (i.e., COP quantifiers), irrespective of the fatigue condition (see Figure 3). These results are in line with previous studies that reported no significant differences in some postural sway parameters between gymnasts and non-gymnasts (Vuillerme et al, 2001a;Asseman et al, 2004Asseman et al, , 2008Vuillerme and Nougier, 2004;Gautier et al, 2008;Opala-Berdzik et al, 2021). As these studies used relatively non-challenging postural tasks (bipedal eyes-open posture), it has been suggested that the effect of gymnastics expertise on balance ability might be associated with specific postures for which the practice is specifically related (Asseman et al, 2008), as gymnasts' training routines (which involve difficult and specific postures) might have a slight or no effect on the performance of unspecific postures.…”

“…These different results might be associated with the different samples used in the studies, as Asseman et al (2008) investigated male artistic gymnasts (and compared them with other sportsmen), whereas the present study investigated younger female expert acrobatic gymnastics as compared to non-trained counterparts. Indeed, expertise ( Opala-Berdzik et al, 2021 ), sex ( Milosis and Siatras, 2012 ) and training specificity ( Vuillerme et al, 2001a ; Asseman et al, 2004 , 2008 ; Isableu et al, 2017 ) have been shown to significantly influence the development of postural control abilities.…”

“…However, this issue remains controversial, as other studies showed no significant differences in balance ability between gymnasts and controls under certain conditions. Indeed, the literature indicates that such a “superior balance ability” is influenced by a variety of factors such as task specificity ( Vuillerme et al, 2001a ; Asseman et al, 2004 , 2008 ; Isableu et al, 2017 ), attentional demand ( Vuillerme and Nougier, 2004 ), level of expertise ( Opala-Berdzik et al, 2021 ), sensory condition ( Vuillerme et al, 2001a ; Asseman et al, 2005 , 2008 ; Garcia et al, 2011 ), anthropometric characteristics ( Opala-Berdzik et al, 2018 , 2021 ), age ( Garcia et al, 2011 ), sex ( Milosis and Siatras, 2012 ) and the parameter of postural sway being analyzed ( Isableu et al, 2017 ; Opala-Berdzik et al, 2018 ). To the best of our knowledge, the majority of these studies involved artistic gymnasts, although rhythmic and acrobatic gymnastics have also been explored, with somewhat similar results ( Calavalle et al, 2008 ; Opala-Berdzik et al, 2018 , 2021 ).…”

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

“…Analysis of the literature revealed ( Table 1 ) that postural stability plays an important role in functional movements and/or athlete performance in shooting ( Era et al, 1996 ; Ball et al, 2003 ; Mononen et al, 2007 ; Ihalainen et al, 2016a , b , 2018 ; Lang and Zhou, 2021 ), gymnastics ( Opala-Berdzik et al, 2021 ), dancing ( Munzert et al, 2019 ), and team sports, such as soccer ( Jadczak et al, 2019a , b ).…”

Calidad de movimiento en adolescentes practicantes y no practicantes de Gimnasia Acrobática mediante la batería Funtional Movement Screen (Quality of movement in Acrobatic Gymnastics teenagers and non-practitioners using the Funtional Movement Screen bat

“…Por otra parte, al ser una prueba de sentadilla sosteniendo la pica con los brazos extendidos sobre la cabeza, exige en el participante posibles ajustes compensatorios en la activación del centro de masa y una mejora de la capacidad de respuestas de los músculos posturales (Glass & Albert, 2018). Se ha documentado que la práctica de disciplinas gimnásticas desde los primeros años de vida mejora el desarrollo del control postural y una mayor estabilidad postural (García, Barela, Viana & Barela, 2011;Opala-Berdzik, GBowacka & Juras, 2021). Este aspecto está muy desarrollado en estos gimnastas ya que el control postural juega un papel importante en este deporte sobre todo en las acciones con cambios de posiciones (motions) con el ágil sobre su cabeza ya que las posibles perturbaciones provocadas por los movimientos del mismo, exige un gran control postural independientemente de la posición que adopte.…”