The Influence of Physical Load on Dynamic Postural Control—A Systematic Replication Study

Abstract

Dynamic postural control is challenged during many actions in sport such as when landing or cutting. A decrease of dynamic postural control is one possible risk factor for non-contact injuries. Moreover, these injuries mainly occur under loading conditions. Hence, to assess an athlete’s injury risk properly, it is essential to know how dynamic postural control is influenced by physical load. Therefore, the study’s objective was to examine the influence of maximal anaerobic load on dynamic postural control. Sixty-four sport students (32 males and 32 females, age: 24.11 ± 2.42, height: 175.53 ± 8.17 cm, weight: 67.16 ± 10.08 kg) were tested with the Y-Balance Test before and after a Wingate Anaerobic Test on a bicycle ergometer. In both legs, reach distances (anterior) and composite scores were statistically significantly reduced immediately after the loading protocol. The values almost returned to pre-load levels in about 20 min post-load. Overall, findings indicate an acute negative effect of load on dynamic postural control and a higher potential injury risk during a period of about 20 min post-load. To assess an athlete’s sports-specific injury risk, we recommend testing dynamic postural control under loaded conditions.

Load-Induced Changes of Inter-Limb Asymmetries in Dynamic Postural Control in Healthy Subjects

“…Additionally, an investigation of risk factors and inter-limb asymmetries under loaded conditions can provide further information on an athlete’s potential injury risk since injuries mainly occur in loaded situations, e.g., during matches, competition, or training ( Bourne et al, 2019 ; Verschueren et al, 2020 ). Recently, several studies investigated the influence of load on dynamic postural control ( Wright et al, 2013 ; Johnston et al, 2018 ; Heil et al, 2020b ). Nevertheless, up to now, only one study investigated the influence of a physical loading protocol on inter-limb asymmetries in dynamic postural control.…”

“…Moreover, two different types of load were compared because several studies regarding the influence of load on dynamic postural control and inter-limb asymmetries have shown that the changes seem to depend on the implemented load type and protocol ( Wright et al, 2013 ; Heil et al, 2020a ; Verschueren et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, studies often use cycling protocols ( Johnston et al, 2018 ; Heil et al, 2020b ; Verschueren et al, 2021 ), although running protocols seem to be the better choice because they are closer to the real sporting conditions. Therefore, a commonly used cycling protocol was compared to a comparable running protocol.…”

“…Nevertheless, predicting the likelihood of injuries using the YBT has recently been doubted ( Luedke et al, 2020 ). Moreover, the YBT preliminarily measures anticipative dynamic postural control, and in sports, mainly non-anticipative movements are present ( Heil et al, 2020b ). Therefore, it might be advantageous to use other balance tests besides the YBT to regard an athlete’s dynamic postural control.…”

“…The protocol was based on a study by Johnston et al (2018) that was adapted and systematically replicated. The recorded data was analyzed in different studies considering different aspects ( Heil et al, 2020b ; Heil and Büsch, 2022 ). The whole project was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the local Ethics committee approved the protocol.…”

Dynamic postural control and physical stress: an approach to determining injury risk in real sporting conditions

“…Therefore, sincenoself-reportmeasureoffatiguewasused, studies cannot evaluate if a certain physical load caused fatigue or not (Enoka & Duchateau, 2016). dynamic postural control, several studies showed a negative effect of different types of load-e.g., cycling (Heil, Schulte, & Büsch, 2020b;Johnston et al, 2018), running (Wright et al, 2013), a high-intensity, intermittent exercise protocol (HIIP) (Whyte et al, 2015), functional protocols (Sarshin, Mohammadi, Shahrabad, & Sedighi, 2011), or local loading protocols (Gribble, Robinson, Hertel, & Denegar, 2009)-on dynamic postural control. This might be due to the former prescribed load-induced physiological alterations that also affect systems involved in the maintenance of dynamic postural control, e.g., proprioception, vision, and the vestibular system (Güler et al, 2020).…”