Professor, Dr.Med. A.B. Gudkov^1,2
PhD A.V. Demin²,
Postgraduate A.A. Dolgoborodova²
PhD, Associate Professor, Head Coach of the Women's National Floorball Team A.V. Bykov^2
1Northern State Medical University, Arkhangelsk
²Northern (Arctic) Federal University n.a. M.V. Lomonosov, Arkhangelsk

Keywords: floorball, female floorball players, anxiety, postural equilibrium control quality, sensory organization of postural control, sport-specific injuries, computerized stabilometry/ posturagraphy.

Background. The human equilibrium control test data generated by the computerized stabilometry/ posturagraphy test systems are highly beneficial for many sport sciences. In the context of the increasingly important role that has been played by the computerized stabilometry in modern neurology, traumatology, orthopaedics and studies of professional pathologies, the method gained recognition as an efficient tool for studies of the static and dynamic components of postural control in modern sport medicine [11]. Much attention has been given lately to the athletes’ equilibrium control test studies [5 – 7, 8, 10, 12, 13], albeit the athletes’ equilibrium control quality and sensory organization of the postural control in different teams sports in regular seasons still need to be explored in more detail [9]. In studies of the athletes’ equilibrium control functions, due consideration is to be given to the athletes’ ages, track records in the subject sport discipline and the total international competitive experiences, for these data gives the means to find correlations of the young players’ postural equilibrium control functionality and the overall competitive fitness rates with the injury risks in the top-ranking international events and to accumulate new data of benefit for the functionality-control-driven training of junior athletes in the relevant sports [4].

Presently floorball is getting highly popular the world over being ranked among the most fast developing sport disciplines, and at the same time it is one of the youngest and understudied ones [1]. This is the reason for the floorball theory and training practices for floorballers of different skill levels being still poorly supported by the relevant theoretical and practical data to address every aspect of the training process including the physical, mental, tactical and technical components – and this is one more reason for the study being considered and initiated as highly topical [3].

Objective of the study was to profile the postural control components in the Russian Women’s National Floorball Team players grouped by their international competitive experience levels.

Methodology and structure of the study. Subject to the study were randomly sampled 17 female floorball players of 18–35 years of age (aged 25.1±5.6 years on average) of the Russian Women’s National Floorball Team. Every subject to the study was formally qualified as a Master of Sports of the Russian Federation and acted as the attack/ defence team player. The study was performed in the regular season during the 2015 World Floorball Championship in Finland. The Study Group (SG) was composed of the female floorball players having 5-years-minus (2 to 4 years) international competitive experiences; and the Reference Group (RG) was composed of the female floorball players having 5-years-plus (7 to 10 years) international competitive experiences.

Smart Equitest Balance Manager computerized dynamic posturagraphic/ stabilometric system (the US-made) was used in the study to test the postural equilibrium control in the subject athletes – using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT). The test procedure was described in detail in the study report by A.B. Gudkov et al. “Postural control characteristics in older women with fall syndrome” [2].

SPSS 22 Software tools were used for the statistical processing of the test data obtained. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney test of independent samples was applied for the group data comparisons and correlation analysis. Group parameters were rated and presented by median (Ме) and percentile interval of 25–75 (Q1–Q3). The data was rated statistically significant at р < 0.05.

Study results and discussion. Comparative analysis of the EQL–1–4 SOT (Table 1) test data of the subject players found no statistically significant differences in the data. However, the first quartiles EQL–3 (10 point) and EQL–4 (5.2 point) in the RG athletes were higher than those in the SG. There are good reasons to assume that the female players with shorter (under 5-years) experience participating in the top-ranking international events are exposed to higher risks of the equilibrium function quality sagging in COND3 and COND4. The study data and analyses give the means to identify the lower acceptable levels of the functionality rates that may be beneficial for the elite athletes’ equilibrium control studies in different team sports. Our analysis of Strategies 1–4 found no significant differences in the data arrays.

Table 2. Female floorball players’ SOT data versus the athletes’ international competitive experiences

The RG showed the higher EQL–5 than the SG (p = 0.027). The study tested the female floorball players with a 5-years-minus international competitive experience with the lower equilibrium control quality in the balance-keeping test when standing on an off-balancing moving foothold.

Furthermore, the SG athletes showed the lower EQL–6 test rates than the RG athletes. In addition, the SG showed the first quartile of these rates being 12 points lower than the standard rate. The test data may be interpreted as indicative of the equilibrium control quality sagging risk in the regular season in the female athletes with shorter (under 5-years) international competitive experiences as verified by the eyes-open standing balance-keeping test on the off-balancing moving foothold.

The Strategy–5, 6 data analysis showed no statistically significant differences in the data arrays. However, the first quartiles of the RG test data were lower than those of the SG. It is highly probable that with the growing age, sport-specific leg injuries (dominated by the ankle injuries) and experience (5-plus years long) of participation in the top-ranking international competitions, the female floorball players are increasingly exposed to the higher risk of postural control deficiencies in COND5, 6.

Having compared the EQL–CMP SOT test data, we found the SG athletes showing lower test rates than the RG (p = 0.046). Moreover, the SG athletes showed the first quartile of the CMP ES SOT data being 2.2 points under the standard rate. Therefore, the study found not only the sagging trend but also the growing adaptive ability deterioration risk for the equilibrium control and static neurophysicological mechanisms of postural control in the regular season in the female floorball players having 5-years-minus international competitive experiences.

The sensory data analysis of the RAT–SOM and RAT–VIS test data found no statistically significant differences in the group data. However, the RG Masters of Sport showed the first quartile of the RAT–VIS test data being 4.7% higher than that in the SG. It may be assumed, therefore, that in the regular season the SG athletes are exposed to a higher risk of the visual control component sagging in the overall postural control.

The RG test data in the RAT–VEST tests were all higher than those in the SG (p = 0.027), with the first quartile of the RAT–VEST test data in the RG being 13.1% higher than in the SG. The study data may be interpreted as indicative of the vestibular component of the equilibrium control in the lower-experienced female players being on the fall in the regular season.

Furthermore, the RAT–PREF test data in the RG was higher than in the SG (p = 0.002). In addition, the first quartile of the RAT–PREF test data in the SG was found 5.6% lower than the standard rate. The study found the lower-experienced female floorball players in the regular season being more prone to deterioration of the visual component of the postural control under a variety of influences of the competitive environments.

Conclusions. Therefore, the study data and analyses give the reasons to assume the following: first, the female players having the 5-years-minus international competitive experiences, when exposed to the long-lasting high-intensity physical loads in regular season, are tested with the falling COND5–6 equilibrium control quality; adaptive ability of the equilibrium control and static neurophysicological mechanisms of postural control; and the vestibular and visual data contribution to the equilibrium control under the variable influences of the competitive environments; and, second, the female players having the 5-years-minus international competitive experiences are exposed to the higher risks of fatigue in the regular season due to the above control function deficiencies. There are reasons to assume that the changes in sensory integration and the increased loads on the somatic-sensory function in the equilibrium control are associated with the growing risks of fatigue; and, third, the study data may be interpreted as indicative of the functionality of the female floorball players having the lower international competitive experiences losing its adaptation/ rehabilitation ability under the high-intensity physical loads in the regular season.

It is possible that the deterioration of the equilibrium control in the COND3, 5, 6 and the fall of the vestibular and visual control components of the postural control under variable impacts of the competitive environment will result in the individual athletic performances in the team sports being less efficient. It may be assumed that the RAT–PREF SOT test rates being on the fall in the regular season in the female players having lower international competitive experiences results from the growing fears of failure and increased pressure of responsibility for errors in the top-ranking matches. The study data and analyses confirm once again the need for services of good sport psychologists to assist coaches of the national sport teams in the psychological support domain of the training process. These services will be efficient enough to control the mental and physiological states of the elite athletes with a due priority being given to the individualized training tools geared to mitigate the risks of negative mental/ emotional conditions being developed during the competitions.

The efforts to improve the teamwork efficiency and success with due adaptation of the athletes to stresses of the top-ranking events may be reasonably supported by friendly matches with the leading teams having good experience in high-ranking international events; and due monitoring of the psycho-physiological condition of the athletes in the training process and regular season. In addition, the team coaches are recommended to take efforts to model the situations that are likely to be faced by junior athletes at early stages of their international competitive careers.

It should be noted that the computerized stabilometric/ posturagraphic method offers high benefits for the sport medicine practices as it provides valuable postural control test data to monitor the athletic performance on an annual basis and detect, on a timely basis, variations in the individual postural control profiles thereby reducing the risks of sport-specific injuries.

References

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2. Gudkov A.B., Demin A.V., Gribanov A.V. Kharakterisika postural'nogo kontrolya u zhenshchin pozhilogo vozrasta s sindromom padeniy (Postural control characteristics in older women with fall syndrome) // Uspekhi gerontologii, - 2015. - Vol. 28. - No. 3. -  P. 513-520
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Corresponding author: floorball@list.ru

Abstract

Modern top-ranking international competitions are known to be of highest demand to every aspect of the athletic functional fitness in team sports. The article gives first accounts of the postural control profiling data – including the postural equilibrium and sensory functionality data – for players of the Russian Women’s National Floorball Team in the regular season. Computerized stabilometric/ posturagraphic method was used to find that the female floorball players having 5-years-minus international competitive experience tend to develop – as a result of the sport-specific physical, mental and emotional stresses – some deficiencies in the quality and adaptive capability of the postural equilibrium control; static neurophysiological mechanisms of postural control; and the vestibular and visual components of the postural equilibrium control in different game situations – as compared to the female floorball players having 5-years-plus international competitive experience. These postural control deficiencies of the female floorball players having 5-years-minus international competitive experience may be of negative effects on their competitive performance efficiency and success rates and increase their sport-specific injury risks.