Relationships between selected indices of postural stability and sports performance in elite badminton players: Pilot study

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to determine the relationships between postural stability and the place in the ranking of badminton players. The study examined 10 elite players from Polish national badminton team. The scope of the study included basic somatic characteristics, such as body height, body weight, BMI, and training experience. A Microgate GYKO inertial sensor system was used to assess the postural stability of athletes. Using Spearman’s rank correlation, cause-and-effect relationships between the place in the sports ranking and the analyzed variables characterizing postural stability were recognized. Depending on the distribution and homogeneity of variance, the significance of differences in variables that characterize postural stability between players of different sports skill levels (two groups) was calculated. The Student’s t-test or Mann–Whitney’s U-test was used for this purpose. In general, the athletes with higher positions on the ranking list presented a higher level of postural stability in both tests, which is also confirmed by the normalized values. However, for all variables of postural stability, no statistically significant correlations with sports ranking were observed. Higher values of Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were found for the test performed in the one-foot standing test compared to the two-foot test. The results obtained indicate that particular attention in badminton training should be paid to the development of the level of postural stability in order to improve sports performance.