engleski

Recreational level alpine skiing and balance-a causative relationship?

Alpine skiing is a specific winter sport, primarily due to non-standardized movements. To manage the ski turns and learn and improve ski technique, alpine skiers need specific motor abilities. Through this investigation we wanted to show the importance of balance during initial phases of alpine ski learning. On the other hand, we aimed to determine if alpine skiing influenced balance. We included 96 participants, randomly assigned into two equal- sized groups. Both the participants of control and experimental group participated in assessment of balance on balance board with attached Gyko instrument while wearing ski boots. After initial testing, participants of the experimental group participated in the 10- day alpine ski school, while participants of the control group refrained from physical activity. Two days after completion of alpine ski school all participants were once again tested according to the same protocol with the AP_L test. Participants of the two groups had comparable baseline characteristics and did not differ in the initial balance testing. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the final balance test in the control group. On the other hand, participants of the experimental group achieved better results in balance assessment test after completing 10-day alpine ski school program (p=0.00). Improvement was especially evident for those participants of the experimental group who had initial poorer results in balance test (p=0.00), although improvement was also noticed for participants who were achieving better results during initial balance assessment (p=0.02). Our results confirm that balance is important for learning basics of alpine skiing, but moreover that structured alpine ski program leads to improvement of balance in adult alpine ski beginners.

alpine skiing ; GYKO ; ski school ; motor ability ; development

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