STABLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE DOMINANT FOOT AND NON-DOMINANT FOOT OF VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

Dr. Amar Kumar and Dr. Madan Singh Rathore

Abstract

It is generally recognized that the best performance in whole body tasks such as postural control is achieved by a symmetrical musculoskeletal system-relative to the two sides of the body. However, practicing a sport may exacerbate neuromuscular asymmetry, where an athlete may exercise one side of the body more often or intensely than the other (e.g., when consistently jumping or kicking with the same leg during matches or training sessions). It is possible that athletes will be more asymmetrical with respect to their neuromuscular performance after a season of play, which could have a negative effect on the execution of motor tasks, particularly postural control. Unbalanced functional skills may increase risk for injury in athletes. In volleyball players take off and landing plays a great role during spiking and blocking, so by knowing the bilateral difference in application of pressure and oscillation we may know about their status of joints and also prevent it from ligament injury. Ten male volleyball Inter University right handed player of LNIPE, Gwalior were selected as subjects to perform right and left unipodal standing (UP) during for 10 sec. Purposive sampling was used to select the player. Players were asked to stand on Baropodometric Platform BTS with dominant foot and non dominant foot with a gap of 3 minutes in between so that fatigue will not affect the oscillation. Initially tested lower limb was alternated between right and left in a unipodal fashion. Data obtained from the Baropodometric Platform BTS were transferred to Microsoft Excel, where the following parameters were analyzed; Anteroposterior Oscillation (APO) and Mediolateral Oscillation (MLO) directions, the average speed of oscillation and displacement of  Center of Pressure (COP). Descriptive statistics and T-test were used for the comparison of stabliometric analysis in dominant foot and non dominant foot of volleyball players at 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that the dominant foot also showed less oscillation in both anterior posterior and medio lateral oscillation showing more joint stability and proprioception. It seems, due to more laxity in joints of non dominant foot the speed of oscillation also showed significantly greater displacement in center of pressure than dominant foot.

Keywords:  Pressure, Dominant Foot and Oscillation