Balance level standing on unstable surface in women differentiated by their field of study

Study aim: The aim of the study is to determine the degree of differentiation in the level of postural stability under dynamic conditions (forced by moving surface) in female students depending on their chosen field of study. The following research questions were put forward: 1. does the selected field of study and the level of physical activity of the women associated with this field affect their postural stability? 2. do the potential, observed differences in stability of the studied student groups exist to a similar extent in the frontal and sagittal planes? Basic procedures: The studies involved a total of 87 women, students of three faculties: Collegium Medicum (CM) obstetrics (33), AWF physiotherapy (28), AWF physical education (26). The premise qualifying the participants for the group was lack of previous contact with competitive sports. Postural stability tests were carried out on an EasyTech Libra postural balance platform. They included two trials, carried outseparately in the frontal and sagittal planes (a total of four measurements): 1. standing position, feet parallel, straight line, with feedback; 2. standing position, feet parallel, sinusoid, with feedback. Conclusions: 1. Among the students of various fields of study, there were no statistically significant differences with respect to all of the tested parameters of postural stability. The differentiating group, the stability of which significantly exceeded the others, consisted of physical education students. There were no differences in the level of stability among female students of obstetrics and physiotherapy. The causes of identified diversity should be seen in the level of physical activity of the studied women. 2. There were no significant differences in the stability level of the individual student groups considered in the frontal and sagittal planes, in maintaining a standing position on the platform or in the performance of the equivalent task by the studied students. The scale of differentiation degree between the groups was similar irrespective of the direction of platform deflection. Antropomotoryka. Journal of Kinesiology and Exercise Sciences JKES 73 (26): 25-34, 2016 SECTION – FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED KINESIOLOGY DOI: 10.5604/17310652.1226487 ICID: 1226487 (1.2) Authors’ contribution: A. Study design/planning B. Data collection/entry C. Data analysis/statistics D. Data interpretation E. Preparation of manuscript F. Literature analysis/search G. Funds collection D. Tchórzewski, J. Brudecki, P. Bujas, M. Palik, M. Szczygieł, E. Zagata-Łuc 26 Antropomotoryka Introduction Issues related to the ability to maintain balance are the subject of research in many fields of science. This is due to the very important role it plays in our daily lives. These studies are usually focused on verifying hypotheses related to strategies of maintaining balance during quiet-standing [1, 2], and rarely refer to specific physical activity carried out under dynamic conditions [35]. Many authors distinguish between two types of balance: static understood as the ability to maintain a balanced position, and dynamic – based on maintaining or regaining a balanced position during motor activity or immediately after its performance. [6] This division, however, is a bit artificial because the body aims at the so-called equilibrium point, but in practice, it is never reached which means that we are never balanced. The most common dynamic as well as static balance are considered on two planes: sagittal and frontal, even if the device allows multi-axis measurements. Without minimizing the importance of stabilographic measurements, for clinical diagnostics or biomechanical research, more and more authors tend to determine greater usefulness in daily activities and sports for the measurement of dynamic balance as more similar to the real conditions occurring in everyday life [7]. More valuable information seems to be how the process of maintaining balance occurs in dynamic conditions, consciously swaying from a state of balance and back to it [8, 9]. Dynamic balance is measured in laboratory conditions on moving platforms (balance), two or multi-axis and on solid platforms coated with a material creating an unstable surface (various types of foam or sponge) (Bressel et al. 2007). There are still not many studies on the subject and the ones existing are mainly concentrated on comparing the two balance types [9, 10]. This is undoubtedly related to the small availability of adequate measuring equipment to date [8]. Coordination of balance maintaining processes of the body is an essential condition for the effectiveness of human motor behavior [6]. Upright position creates an unstable dynamic system subjected to constantly changing and often unpredictable conditions and frequent interference. They determine the selection of appropriate strategies for dealing with the learning of new or modifying existing patterns of behavior associated with maintaining stability of the body [11]. Stability is a broader concept and means the ability to recover the lost equilibrium as a result of destabilizing factors [12]. The academic community is a special group, which in the general opinion represents socially desirable traits and values, which often makes it the subject of scientific research. It was subjected to the studies carried out by: sociologists, educators, psychologists, biologists, theorists, physical education theorists, sports and also anthropomotorists [13]. Within the realm of the latter field of science, the assessment and development of individual components of somatic build are dealt with [14], and the level of activity and physical fitness of students [13, 1517]. In recent times, this type of analysis has become more desirable due to the fact that most universities have resigned from conducting physical education classes. It is inseparably connected with the question of whether students’ own physical activity is sufficient enough without organized stimulation to achieve the positive measures of health, which in the American concept may be included in the structure of physical fitness in terms of health-related fitness (H-RF) [13]. So far, the least explored area of students’ physical activity seems to be coordination capacity. In this study, we have studied the basic one, which undoubtedly is balance. It was decided to compare its level in three groups of female-students with varied, chosen fields of study and levels of physical activity. These groups are comprised of students from the Jagiellonian University, Collegium Medicum (CM) and the University School of Physical Education (AWF), studying in the fields of obstetrics, physiotherapy and physical education. The aim of the study is to determine the degree of differentiation in the level of postural stability under dynamic conditions (forced by moving surface) in students depending on their field of study. The following research questions were formulated: 1. Does the selected field of study, and the level of physical activity of the women related to this field affect their postural stability? 2. Do any of the observed differences in the stability level of the studied student groups exist to a similar extent in the frontal and sagittal planes? Material and methods