Effect of systematic rhythmic gymnastics training on postural control of young girls

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate if the postural control in static conditions, is a discriminating factor between gymnastics rhythmic girls and their normally active counterparts. Methods Sixteen rhythmic gymnastics girls of national level (RG) (RG: 9.7 ± 1.4 years; 32.3 ± 3.6 kg, 143.1 ± 7.4 cm) and sixteen school girls (SG) (SG: 9.8 ± 0.9 years; 36.2 ± 5.4 kg; 139.2 ± 6.9 cm) participated in the investigation. All subjects performed two postural control tests: Bipedal Eyes Open (EO) and Eyes Closed (EC), while standing on a platform force, as immobile as possible for 30 seconds. Based on the center of pressure displacement, variables analyzed were: Ellipse Area of 95 (A95), Mean Velocity (MVT), Mean Velocity in the anterior-posterior plane (MVA/P) and Mean Velocity in the medium-lateral plane (MVM/L). A frequency domain analysis of the center of pressure (Fast Fourier Transform) was performed. Results Significant differences were observed when comparing groups for MVM/L and MVT, but not for A95, in EO and EC. Interestingly, RG showed greater values of MVM/L than SG in all conditions. In absence of vision, both groups were affected, but there was a trend to be weaker this effect in RG. The Fourier Transform showed that gymnastics had higher values of energy of the spectrum in the M/L plane. Conclusions The results suggest that postural control in static conditions is a discriminating factor between gymnastics rhythmic girls and their normally active counterparts. However, traditional methods for the analysis of the CP seem to be not reliable to understand the dynamics of the CP.