Moderate treadmill run worsened static but not dynamic postural stability of healthy individuals

Running has been demonstrated to be one of the most relevant exercise in altering static postural stability, while limiting attention has been paid to its effects on dynamic postural stability. The aim of the present study was to investigate if 25 min of moderate running on a treadmill altered static and dynamic postural stability in healthy subjects.

Eight female and six male participants (age 27.7 ± 8.3 years, height 170.9 ± 12.2 cm, weight 63.9 ± 15.6 kg) took part in the study. Before and after the run static postural stability was evaluated on a stabilometric platform (10 trials of 30 s each), while dynamic postural stability was assessed on an instrumented unstable platform (2 trials of 30 s each).

After the treadmill run the area of the confident ellipse (from 67.97 ± 34.56 to 93.08 ± 50.00 mm²), sway path velocity (from 6.92 ± 1.85 to 7.83 ± 2.57 mm/s), sway area velocity (from 6.88 ± 3.27 to 9.54 ± 5.36 mm²/s), and medio-lateral maximal oscillation (from 9.48 ± 2.80 to 11.44 ± 3.64 mm) significantly increased. Stabilogram diffusion analysis showed no statistically significant difference in the diffusion coefficients, both short and long term. No statistically significant differences were reported in all the parameters of the dynamic postural stability test.

The contrasting results of the static and dynamic postural stability tests raise the question of which are the more selective tests to assess the acute effect of physical exercise on postural stability among healthy individuals. The proper interaction of both static and dynamic postural evaluations could represent the next challenge in the postural stability assessment.