Static and Dynamic Balance Assessment in Healthy and Concussed Adolescent Athletes

The purpose of this study was to explore the utilization of the Y Balance Test (YBT) alongside the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) during examination of healthy adolescent athletes (14-18 year old) as well as those with acute and chronic concussion.

A repeated-measures study of balance in a cross-sectional convenience sample of adolescents participating in high-school athletics.

Data were collected on healthy athletes in their school setting for comparison purposes and on concussed athletes in the physical therapy rehabilitation center at the hospital.

Participants were a convenience sample of male and female athletes between the ages of 14 to 18 year old [180 healthy (111 male, 69 female) and 44 (28 male, 16 female) with concussion].

All participants were cleared for participation by preparticipation examination or by the treating sport medicine physician.

Healthy athletes performed the YBT, a dynamic assessment of balance. Athletes with concussion also performed the BESS, a static assessment of balance.

Means for each YBT reach direction were statistically different for both healthy males and females ( P < 0.05). Within both the acute and chronic subsets of the concussed sample, some participants performed over the median value for the BESS but not the YBT.

These data may suggest that dynamic balance testing in conjunction with static balance testing could be valuable in both the acute and chronic phases of concussion to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the necessary balance skills for athletic play.