Assessment of balance among adolescent track and field athletes

Track and field events place different demands on athletes and may have an effect on balance. This study investigated the effects of event specialty, gender, and leg dominance on balance among adolescent track and field athletes. Forty healthy adolescent track and field athletes (male = 23, female = 17) categorised into three different groups (sprinter = 20, distance runners = 13, throwers = 7) had their single leg static balance measured with the eyes open and the eyes closed using an AMTI force platform. Dependent variables included average displacement (cm) of the centre of pressure (COP) in the anterior/posterior direction and medial/lateral directions, the average velocity of the COP (cm/s) and the 95% ellipse area (cm(2)). Variables were analysed using a 3 (event specialty) × 2 (gender) × 2 (leg) ANOVA with repeated measures on the leg variable (p < 0.05). There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the average displacement of the COP in the medial/lateral direction for both the eyes open and closed condition, with the non-dominant leg demonstrating greater displacement than the dominant leg. This might increase the risk of injury for the non-dominant leg, but additional data should be collected and analysed on both dynamic balance and performance.