Only the stable survive: role of balance task difficulty on dynamic postural control in young athletes and...

Emerging evidence highlights that adaptations in postural control induced by long-term motor practice are specific to the requirements in which the balance task is performed. In addition, the adaptations appear to be limb-specific, and as a result, may lead to differences in task failure when increasing the level of balance task difficulty. Thus, we determined differences in the percentage of participants with task failure (i.e., dropouts) during dynamic balance assessments for each limb while increasing the level of task difficulty in trained compared to untrained individuals.

Soccer players (n = 64, age: 14.0 ± 1.8 years) with different levels of training experience (i.e., 2-5 or 6-9 years), swimmers (n = 73, age: 13.8 ± 2.7 years) and non-athletes (n = 60, age: 14.1 ± 1.1 years) performed the unipedal stance with the dominant and non-dominant leg under dynamic single (balance task only) and dual (balance and a concurrent motor task) task conditions with an increasing difficulty level (i.e., progressive reduction of the base of support). The percentage of participants remaining per completed difficulty level was analysed by type of sport, level of training experience, and leg dominance.

In both tasks, the percentage of individuals remaining per completed difficulty level decreased as the level of task difficulty increased, irrespective of the individual's training background. Further, significantly lower dropouts were found in soccer players compared to swimmers and non-athletes. However, no significant differences were detected between soccer players with diverging levels of training experience or with respect to limb dominance.

The lower dropouts in soccer players compared to swimmers and non-athletes suggest sport-specific benefits in postural control for balance tasks with increasing difficulty level. However, this benefit is not superior in soccer players with more compared to less training experience and for the dominant than the non-dominant limb. These findings indicate that soccer players exhibit better postural control with both the dominant and non-dominant leg compared to swimmers and untrained individuals, which is maintained even with increasing balance task difficulty.