Article

The role that the ankle's physiological characteristics play in
maintaining balance during quiet stance has been well documented. However, the
role of the ankle in maintaining balance during more challenging conditions is
questionable. As such, the objectives of this study were to identify any
significant relationships between the physiological characteristics of the ankle
joint and the ability to maintain more challenging unilateral stance.
PARTICIPANTS: 21 healthy, adult athletes (age = 24.67 +/- 5.42 years; height =
175.34 +/- 7.48 cms; weight = 79.09 +/- 14.07 kg). PROCEDURES: Passive resistance
and joint position sense in the sagittal plane of the ankle, and active
dorsiflexion range of motion of each subject was assessed, in addition to centre
of pressure parameters during 20 s unilateral stance. RESULTS: Pearson's product
moment correlation coefficient found significant positive correlations between
D(peaktorque) and sway area (r = .554); A(x) range (r = .449); and A(y) range (r
= .471). Significant negative correlations were found between P(peaktorque) angle
and sway area (r = -.538, p = .012), A(x) range (r = -.590, p = .005) and A(y)
range (r = -.439, p=.046). DISCUSSION: The results highlighted limited
relationships between unilateral stance balance control and the ankle
characteristics commonly associated with quiet stance balance control and has,
thus, further questioned the role that the ankle plays during more challenging
stance conditions. The majority of balance training protocols in the athletic
community focuses on the distal joints, however, this needs re-addressing in
order to maximise performance.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS