Science & Equine

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Written by Sophie Delemarre
Posted in Exercise therapy

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Balance in stance

In order to perform and improve in sports a balanced trunk is important. The stability and the abillity to maintain control of the trunk is called postural balance or postural control. The level of postural control depends on the level of training. The article reviewed here takes a look at the difference in balance between female equestrians and non-athetes. They decided to focus on the postural control and their balance in stance.

The examination with a balance bord that measured the postural sway examined the difference between female equestrian athletes and female non-equestrians. The researchers concluded in this article that equestrains were able to maintain a better postural control than the non-equestrians. They even suggested that horse riding may be of help in improving certain subdomains of balance.

Are you a balanced equestrian?

Expert opinion by Sophie Delemarre

When I started reading the abstract of this artice, I became very curious. As a physical therapist I often see patients with poor balance, equestrians included. The idea of this article is great, but the way it's done could be better. 

In my opinion the examined group was too small, and the level of the equestrians wasn't described. What I did find odd is that the researchers failed to tell if, and if so, what kind of sport the non-equestrians participated in. 

Despite the method of researching, I did find the results intriguing. Let's hope there comes a sequel to this research!

> From: Olivier et al., PloS One 14(2) (2019) 1-13. All rights reserved to Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 2.0 Licence. Click here for the online summary.

Image by: Positief Paardrijden