Reliability of a novel dynamic test of postural stability in high-level soccer players

Abstract

Postural stability of athletes is commonly tested with single-leg stance (SLS) tests. However, for this population, these tests are insufficiently challenging to achieve high sensitivity. Therefore, a new dynamic SLS test based on standardized translational surface perturbations was developed. This study aimed to assess reliability, sensitivity to learning effects, and internal and concurrent validity of this novel test.Healthy soccer players (21 females, 21 males) performed 2 test sessions. Each session consisted of 2 trials. For one trial, the participant performed a 30-seconds, unperturbed SLS on each leg, followed by 12 platform perturbations per leg.Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) and correlations between outcomes were calculated for the Center of Pressure speed (CoPs) and Time To Stabilization (TTS). ANOVA was used to assess learning effects. CoPs and TTS showed a fair reliability between sessions (ICC ¼ 0.73-0.76). All variables showed improvement over time within and between sessions (all p < 0.01) and were moderately correlated with CoPs during unperturbed SLS (r ¼ 0.39-0.56).Single-leg dynamic postural stability testing through standardized horizontal platform perturbations yielded sufficiently reliable CoPs and TTS outcome measures in soccer players. The moderate correlations with unperturbed SLS support concurrent validity, but also indicates that the new test captures aspects of postural stability that differ from the conventional, unperturbed SLS test.

Reliability of a Qualitative Instrument to Assess High-Risk Mechanisms during a 90° Change of Direction in Female Football Players

“…For that reason, a standardised previous training period is recommended in which each observer could independently rate a greater quantity of pilot trials to familiarise the raters with the use of the CMAS tool [ 70 ]. Indeed, some studies have pointed out the importance of familiarisation sessions to reduce the learning effect and to improve measurement reliability [ 49 , 61 , 71 ]. Some studies have also noted differences in reliability results depending on the rater’s level of experience [ 72 ].…”

Sports Medicine and Movement Sciences

“…This Special Issue bridging the gap between science and practice in the promotion of exercise and health and in the scientific assessment, study, and understanding of sports performance, sports injury prevention and treatment, exercise for health as non-surgical and nonpharmacological treatments, rehabilitation techniques, adapted physical activity, drugs in sport, and recommendations for training and nutrition. This Special issue comprises 3 review articles and 16 original research publications from a number of Sports Medicine and Sciences researchers [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Taken together, these articles are…”