@article{ref1,
title="Balance abilities of junior ice hockey players",
journal="Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness",
year="2020",
author="Ondra, Lukas and Svoboda, Zdenek",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Postural control is required during various fast-paced and offensive ice hockey actions, and therefore seems to be an important component in ice hockey performance.   METHODS: Data were collected from two ice hockey teams with differing performance levels. The higher-performance team consisted of 26 players (with ages of 16.3 ± 0.9 y, heights of 178.26 ± 6.71 cm, and weights of 74.3 ± 9.6 kg). The lower-performance team consisted of 19 players (with ages of 16.2 ± 1.8 y, heights of 176.11 ± 9.81 cm, and weights of 68.7 ± 13.9 kg). Each participant performed six unilateral stances under static conditions on a balance pad placed on a force platform, and five bilateral stances under dynamic conditions using a wobble board placed on the force platform.   RESULTS: The higher-level players performed better in the unilateral static stance task in both the anterior-posterior direction and the medial-lateral direction (with a p-value of p <0.001), and total velocity (p = 0.001). The higher-level players also performed better in both the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions, and total velocity (with p-value of p <0.001), in the bilateral dynamic stance task and therefore performed significantly better than the lower-level players.   CONCLUSIONS: Hockey players who possess a highly developed postural control strategy have a superior ability to compensate for unexpected postural disturbances and collisions, and thus possess a strong competitive advantage. Therefore, testing the balance abilities of hockey players under static and dynamic conditions may be useful for evaluating their competitive performance levels.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-4707",
doi="10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11057-0",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11057-0"
}