Relationship between static and dynamic balance abilities in Italian professional and youth league soccer players.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the existence of correlations between static and dynamic balance abilities in young and professional elite soccer players.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-one elite players who regularly compete at national level divided into two groups: Professional (age 18-34, n = 20) and Under 15-17 (age 14-16, n = 31).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Dynamic balance was assessed for the case of a single-leg landing task by means of vertical time to stabilization (TTS) and postural sway calculated on the basis of center-of-pressure (COP) trajectories (sway area, COP displacements in antero-posterior and medio-lateral direction, COP path length). The same parameters were also measured for a 20 s one-legged stance to assess static balance abilities.

RESULTS

No significant correlations were found between static and dynamic balance parameters except for TTS and COP displacements in the antero-posterior direction (r = 0.29, p = 0.003). Professional players are characterized by lower TTS in comparison with youth leagues players (0.767 vs. 1.188 s for the dominant limb, p < 0.001) and exhibit reduced sway area (of 34-40%, p < 0.05) for both conditions tested.

CONCLUSION

The assessment of balance in soccer players should be performed with both dynamic and static tests, considering that the postural control performances in the two cases are not related.