Postural Performance and Strategy in the Unipedal Stance of Soccer Players at Different Levels of Competition

International audienceContext: Sport training enhances the ability to use somato-sensory and otolithic information, which improves postural capabilities. Postural changes are different according to the sport practiced, but few authors have analyzed subjects' postural performances to discriminate the expertise level among highly skilled athletes within a specific discipline. Objective: To compare the postural performance and the postural strategy between soccer players at different levels of competition (national and regional). Design: Repeated measures with 1 between-groups factor (lev-el of competition: national or regional) and 1 within-groups factor (vision: eyes open or eyes closed). Dependent variables were center of pressure surface area and velocity; total spectral energy; and percentage of low-, medium-, and high-frequency band. Setting: Sports performance laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Fifteen national male soccer players (age ϭ 24 Ϯ 3 years, height ϭ 179 Ϯ 5 cm, mass ϭ 72 Ϯ 3 kg) and 15 regional male soccer players (age ϭ 23 Ϯ 3 years, height ϭ 174 Ϯ 4 cm, mass ϭ 68 Ϯ 5 kg) participated in the study. Intervention(s): The subjects performed posturographic tests with eyes open and closed. Main Outcome Measure(s): While subjects performed static and dynamic posturographic tests, we measured the center of foot pressure on a force platform. Spatiotemporal center-of-pressure measurements were used to evaluate the postural performance, and a frequency analysis of the center-of-pressure excursions (fast Fourier transform) was conducted to estimate the postural strategy. Results: Within a laboratory task, national soccer players produced better postural performances than regional players and had a different postural strategy. The national players were more stable than the regional players and used proprioception and vision information differently. Conclusions: In the test conditions specific to playing soccer , level of playing experience influenced postural control performance measures and strategies. P ostural regulation is organized in hierarchic and stereotypic patterns 1 and requires the integration of afferent information from the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. 2 Sport training enhances the ability to use somatosensory and otolithic information, which improves postural capabilities. 3 Postural changes are different according to the sport practiced. 4 For example, judo training leads to greater importance being placed on somatosensory information, whereas dance training results in more attention to visual information. 5 Each sport develops specific postural adaptations that are not transferable to the usual upright postures. 6,7 Indeed, Asseman et al 6 evaluated elite gymnasts in 3 postural conditions: bipedal, unipedal, and hand-stands. The gymnasts who were best in the specific unipedal or handstand conditions were not the same as those who were best in the nonspecific bipedal task. Even though nonspecific tasks such as bipedal stance are typically used in activities of daily living, in athletes, it is more relevant to evaluate postural abilities in specific conditions relative to the particular sport. Soccer requires a unipedal posture to perform different technical movements (eg, shooting, passing). The stability of the supporting foot turns out to be critical to shoot as accurately as possible. Therefore, soccer players' postural control should be evaluated in a unipedal stance to respect the specific conditions of soccer. Previous authors have studied soccer players' postural control in a unipedal stance to reduce the risk of traumatic injuries to the lower extremities 8 or to evaluate the effects of rehabilitative training of the ankle joint. 9,10 However, as far as we know, no study has yet been carried out comparing postural performance and strategy in soccer players of different levels of expertise. The postural performance can be characterized by the ability to minimize postural sway, and the postural strategy corresponds to the preferential involvement of short or long neuronal loops in balance regulation. Our aim was to compare postural performance and strategy in unipedal stance between players at different levels of soccer competition

Comparaison de différentes méthodes d'exercice musculaire dans le cadre de la prévention des effets du vieillissement chez la femme

Elderly subjects and allow them to prevent the risk of falling. The aim of this study was to appreciate the efficiency of combining electrostimulation and stair climbing. Three groups of elderly women performed a different training programme (4 sessions a week for 6 weeks) : one group practised stair climbing (SC), one group electrostimulation (ES), and the last group combined the two activities (SC+ES). The body composition (lean and fat mass and bone mineral density (BMD), the muscular strengh of the knee extensor, and the postural kinetic capacities (static and dynamic equilibrium and spatio-temporal characteristics of walking) were measured before and after the training period. As for the results, at the end of the progfamme, none of the groups showed any difference in the body composition. However, the SC+ES group showed a more significant increase of its BMD of the femoral neck and of the legs than the other groups. The maximal strengh of the knee extensor increased in the same proportion in the three groups. However the SC+ES group seems to have increased more than the others its capacity in maintaining for a longer time a dynamic muscular contraction at low speed. The postural kinetic activities were only slightly altered . Only the strategy of equilibration did improve in the three groups (the part of the head acting as a shock absorber more significantly). Whatever the technique used a muscular strenghening programme on a short period could induce positive neuro-muscular adaptations in ederly women. However, it would not result in any significant modification of the body compositions or of the postural-kinetic activities.L'activité de montées d'escalier et l'électrosimulation améliorent les capacités fonctionnelles des sujets âgés et permettent à ceux-ci, en filigrane, de lutter contre leur risque de chute. L'objectif de ce travail était d'évaluer l'efficacité de la surimposition de l'électrosimulation à la montée d'escalier. Trois groupes de femmes âgées ont réalisé un programme d'activité physique (6 semaines, 4 séances hebdomadaires) différent : groupe montées d'escalier (ME), groupe électrosimulation (ES), groupe combinant les 2 activités (ME+ES). La composition corporelle (masse maigre et grasse et densité minérale osseuse (DMO), la force musculaire des extenseurs du genou et les capacités posturo-cinétiques (équilibres statique et dynamique et caractéristiques spatio-temporelles de la marche) ont été évaluées avant et après la période d'entraînement. A l'issue du programme, au plan des résultats, la composition corporelle n'a évolué pour aucun des groupes. Cependant, le groupe ME+ES a davantage augmenté sa DMO au niveau du col du fémur et des jambes par rapport aux autres groupes. La force maximale des extenseurs du genou a augmenté de façon identique chez les 3 goupes. Toutefois, le groupe ME+ES aurait par rapport aux autres groupes davantage amélioré& sa capacité à maintenir une contraction musculaire dynamique plus longtemps à vitesse lente. Les activités posturo-cinétiques ont été peu modifiées. Seule, la stratégie d'équilibration dans la condition dynamique a changé (rôle d'amortissement de la tête plus important) chez les 3 groupes. Quelle que soit la technique utilisée, un programme de renforcement musculaire de courte durée pourrait, chez des femmesâgées, induire des adaptations neuro-musculaires bénéfiques. Cependant, il ne pourrait engendrer de modifications probantes au plan de la composition corporelle et des activités posturo-cinétiquesRENNES2-BU Centrale (352382101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Troubles occlusaux et posturaux pris en charge par une gouttière de libération (évaluation clinique et instrumentale)

TOULOUSE3-BU Santé-Centrale (315552105) / SudocSudocFranceF

Influence du changement de l'angle d'incidence entre le vecteur gravitationnel terrestre et l'axe sagittal du rachis sur les performances posturales statiques et dynamiques d'un individu

Le vecteur gravitationnel conditionne chacune des activités de l'Homme et en particulier son aptitude à s'ériger et contrôler sa posture et son équilibre. La manière (l'incidence) dont ce vecteur s'exerce sur le grand axe du corps dépend de la posture de l'individu. L'Homme partage sa vie entre trois postures fondamentales : debout, assise ou couchée. Ce travail a consisté à mesurer la posture en position debout après avoir modifié la durée et la qualité des deux autres postures. Deux situations expérimentales ont été utilisées : une modification de la posture assise en proposant un mobilier ergonomique aux mêmes élèves au cours de la scolarité de la 6ème à la 3ème et une modification de la posture couchée en plaçant des sujets en décubitus anti-orthostatique (- 6) pendant 60 jours. On observe des modifications posturales : le mobilier ergonomique améliore les performances par rapport au mobilier conventionnel et permet d'atténuer la perte de performances induite par la puberté ; l'alitement de longue durée entraîne des perturbations du contrôle postural comparables à celles observées au cours des vols spatiaux. En position assise il faut donc promouvoir, pendant les années collège, l'utilisation d'un mobilier ergonomique. Si une position couchée doit être maintenue pendant une longue période (raison médicale) il faut alors mettre en place des méthodes prophylactiques (exercices physiques) pour lutter contre ses effets délétères. Ceci est valable, aussi, pour les séjours de longue durée en microgravité (vols spatiaux) afin de conserver au contrôle moteur toute son efficacité notamment lors du retour sur terre.The gravitational loading governs all the Human activities and particularly the ability to stand and control balance. The angle of incidence of the gravitational vector on the main body axis depends on the way the subject stands. The three more important postures in Human life are: standing, sitting or lying. This study consists on analyzing the postural control in a stand up position after a modification of the quality and the duration of the two others positions. Two experimental conditions have been used : a modification of the sitting position by the use of ergonomic furnitures for the same students from the 6th to the 3thd degree and a modification of the lying position by placing subjects on a head-down-bed-rest (antiorthostatic position, -6) during 60 days. We can notice postural modifications: comparing to the conventional furnitures, the ergonomic furnitures improve the postural performances and allowed to minimize the decrease of performances due to the puberty; the long duration bed-rest involve a postural control perturbation comparable to what has been observed during space flights. So, it is important, in sitting position, to promote, during the student life, the utilization of ergonomic furnitures and if a bed rest position has to be maintain during a long period (for medical reasons) prophylactic methods (such as physical exercises) have to be preconized in order to prevent the deconditioning effects. The same treatment can also be applied to the long duration missions in microgravity (space flights) in order to allowed all the efficiency of the motor control in particular for the return to Earth.TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Effets de la pratique de l'électrostimulation sur les activités posturocinétiques chez les sujets âgés sains

Communication brève. Analyse des effets de l'électrostimulation musculaire surimposée ou non à l'exercice musculaire volontaire sur les capacités posturocinétiques, en comparaison avec une activité musculaire volontaire sollicitant la force musculaire chez des femmes âgées de 62 à 75 ans

Influence of Postural Regulation in Male Judokas' Direction of Falls

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Postural adaptations specific to preferred throwing techniques practiced by competition-level judoists

International audienc