CETAPS Laboratory, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Rouen, Mont-Saint-Aignan, France.
J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Jun;24(6):1458-63. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181d2c216.
The first aim of this study was to investigate how visual and somatosensory information influence handstand performance according to the expertise level of gymnasts. The second aim was to determine whether the general perceptual characteristics of gymnasts are linked with their handstand performances. In the first experiment, expert and nonexpert gymnasts performed a handstand on a force platform in 4 conditions: open or closed eyes on a firm or foam support. To assess the gymnasts' performance, the surface area (mm) covered by the trajectory of the center of pressure (CoP) was recorded. The results showed that (a) experts had significantly (p<0.05) better postural performance during the handstand than did nonexperts, whatever the visual condition, (b) nonexperts were unable to maintain the handstand without vision, whatever the support, and (c) the CoP surface was significantly greater on the foam surface than on the firm surface for both experts and nonexperts and, only for experts, whatever the visual condition. In the second experiment, the gymnasts' general perceptual characteristics (field dependence-independence) were evaluated using the rod-and-frame test (RFT). Experts were less field dependent than nonexperts, and the RFT results were positively correlated with postural performance. We thus suggest that, although they did not cope more efficiently with the somatosensory perturbation, expert gymnasts had developed a capacity to use the remaining sensory modalities efficiently when vision was removed. Also, a high level of gymnastics training may improve the ability to change the frame of reference. For the handstand, exercises alternating the use of visual and nonvisual information could be an interesting technique for trainers to improve gymnasts' performance.
本研究的第一个目的是调查视觉和本体感觉信息如何根据体操运动员的专业水平影响倒立表现。第二个目的是确定体操运动员的一般感知特征是否与其倒立表现有关。在第一个实验中，专家和非专家体操运动员在 4 种条件下在力量平台上进行倒立：睁眼或闭眼在坚固或泡沫支撑上。为了评估体操运动员的表现，记录了压力中心（CoP）轨迹覆盖的表面积（mm）。结果表明：（a）无论视觉条件如何，专家在倒立中的姿势表现明显（p<0.05）优于非专家，（b）无论支撑物如何，非专家在没有视觉的情况下无法维持倒立，（c）对于专家和非专家来说，CoP 表面在泡沫表面上明显大于在坚固表面上，并且仅对于专家来说，无论视觉条件如何。在第二个实验中，使用棒框测试（RFT）评估了体操运动员的一般感知特征（场依存-独立性）。专家比非专家更不依赖场，并且 RFT 结果与姿势表现呈正相关。因此，我们认为，尽管他们在处理本体感觉干扰时效率不高，但专家体操运动员已经发展出在视觉缺失时有效利用剩余感觉模态的能力。此外，高水平的体操训练可能会提高改变参照系的能力。对于倒立，交替使用视觉和非视觉信息的练习可能是教练提高体操运动员表现的一种有趣技术。
