Unipodal Static Balance in Judo and Soccer Athletes and Non-Athletes

Abstract

In sports, balance is a fundamental capacity in performance, demonstrating that it’s the most relevant ability in judo actions, and in soccer, due to the contact characteristics and necessity to maintain the best balance for technical execution with a greater chance of success. For its evaluation, the flamingo test seems to be a useful and easy-to-apply on the ground with little equipment and quick data collection, being widely used for this evaluation in different modalities. Objectives: Evaluate unipodal static balance and functional motor asymmetry in Judo athletes, Soccer athletes, and in subjects with non-regular sports practice (Control Group = CG). Methods: 69 healthy subjects between 20 and 22 years old were divided into 3 groups, to which the Flamingo balance test was applied. Results: There were statistically significant differences between Judo and the CG (p = 0.001), where first had better performance, and between Soccer and CG (p = 0.046) where first had better results. In the comparison between the number of falls with the dominant foot in relation to the non-dominant, differences were observed in the soccer athletes (p = 0.023) with more falls for the non-dominant foot as well as in the CG group (p=0.015). In Judo group, no differences were found between limbs. Conclusions: The practice of sports seems to improve balance and Judo seems to improve balance bilaterally more than soccer, suggesting that this modality can improve athletes for both dominant and non-dominant limbs, and so reduce the differences among them.