## 4 Discussion  
The aim of this study was to identify possible differences in the balance stability and cervical ROM between men and women with respect to their reaction on wearing a splint. Descriptive differentiation characteristics for both occlusal conditions could be recognized. While the men had a slightly smaller ellipse area and length of CoP in the bipedal stance, the women performed better in the single-legged stance (whether on the right or left leg). The ROM in all three planes of the cervical spine was higher in women by up to \(4^{\circ}\) (Table 1, Figures 2 and 4). In the habitual occlusion condition (HO), the women had a significantly \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{p{42.7 pt} p{42.7 pt} p{42.7 pt} p{42.7 pt} p{42.7 pt} p{42.7 pt}} \hline \hline  & **Difference Median** & **Difference 3. Quartile** & **Difference Median** & **Difference 3. Quartile** & **\(p\)-Value Difference** \\ \hline \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Male Subjects**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Female Subjects**} \\ \hline \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Difference Habitual Occlusion—Split**} \\ \hline \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Balance stability**} \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Ellipse both legs (mm\({}^{2}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{32.5} & \(-8.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{10} & \(-31.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.23} \\  & & & 64.25 & & 60 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Ellipse left leg (mm\({}^{2}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{73} & \(-77.75\) & \multirow{2}{*}{140} & \(3\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.28} \\  & & & 260.75 & & 297 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Ellipse right leg (mm\({}^{2}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{105} & \(-17.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{45} & \(-260.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.17} \\  & & & 332.75 & & 277 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**COP both legs (mm)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{5} & \(-47.25\) & \multirow{2}{*}{36} & \(-7.00\) & \(-32.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.9} \\  & & & 36 & 40 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**COP left leg (mm)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{24} & \(-21.50\) & \multirow{2}{*}{45} & \(-14.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.32} \\  & & & 73 & 82 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**COP right leg (mm)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{25} & \(-5.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{27} & \(-21.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.91} \\  & & & 60.75 & & 77 & \\ \hline \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Cervical spine movements**} \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**ROM flexion (\({}^{\circ}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-3.00\)} & \(-7.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{4} & \(2\) & \(0\) & \multirow{2}{*}{**0.001**} \\  & & & 4 & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**ROM extension (\({}^{\circ}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-2.00\)} & \(-4.75\) & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-2.00\)} & \(-6.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.77} \\  & & & 1.75 & & 1 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Rotation left (\({}^{\circ}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-3.00\)} & \(-5.75\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0} & \(-2.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.01} \\  & & & 1.5 & & 4 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Rotation right (\({}^{\circ}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-1.00\)} & \(-3.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{2} & \(0\) & \multirow{2}{*}{**0.001**} \\  & & & 0 & & 4 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Lateral flexion left (\({}^{\circ}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-2.50\)} & \(-4.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{2} & \(-2.00\) & \multirow{2}{*}{**0.001**} \\  & & & 0 & & 4 & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Lateral flexion right (\({}^{\circ}\))**} & \multirow{2}{*}{\(-2.00\)} & \(-3.75\) & \multirow{2}{*}{0} & \(0\) & \multirow{2}{*}{**0.001**} \\  & & & 0 & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Differences between habitual occlusion and splint (median, 1 st and 3 rd quartiles) of all parameters for men and women as well as the \(p\)-value of the comparison between the men and women. Significant \(p\)-values are marked in bold following Bonferroni-Holm correction. greater cervical spine extension with a median difference of 4\({}^{\circ}\) and a significantly better balance stability (217 mm\({}^{2}\)). However, only the CoP length for the right-legged single leg stance was significantly lower (75.5 mm) in women than in men when wearing a splint (S). There were no evident differences with regard to cervical spine movements, therefore, Hypothesis 1 must be falsified.