Postural control in elite decathlon athletes: are various modes of dynamic assessment needed?

BACKGROUND

Decathlon consists of various track and field running, jumping and throwing events. This results in high physical demands and poor postural control may predispose athletes at a higher risk for injury. The purpose of this study was to measure and to show a relationship of different dynamic postural control tests in healthy professional decathlon athletes.

METHODS

The German top decathlon team (eight professional athletes, mean age±standard deviation (SD), 20.8±2.7 years; mean height±SD, 187.1±4.3 cm; mean weight±SD, 82.1±7.2 kg) was tested. Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) and three different single-leg-hop tests (SLHT) (single hop for distance [SLH], crossover hop for distance [COH], triple hop for distance [TH] were measured and correlated.

RESULTS

A significant correlation was evident between SLH and COH (r=0.861, P=0.003) and SLH and TH (r=0.908, P=0.001). The correlational analyses of SEBT revealed a significant relationship between the posteromedial and posterolateral direction of the SEBT (r=0.943, P<0.001). SEBT and SLHT showed no correlation.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study demonstrated a relationship in performance of different single leg hop tests in professional decathletes. Adversely there is no correlation of the single leg hop tests and the performance in the star excursion balance test. To minimize the time effort of testing procedures, to avoid redundant testing and to determine overall postural control in decathletes, test-batteries should include the SEBT and at least one SLHT.