POSTURAL CONTROL AND SPORT: POSTURAL SENSOR MOTOR STRATEGIES AND POSTURAL SWAY IN DIFFERENT SPORT BRANCHES

We have to stand more than couple of minutes during a conversation or waiting for a bus in our daily life. During these natural stances, our body shows some changes characterized with global body movements, low, continuous and slow amplitude sways. These changes are important during sportive activities. Because accomplishment of sports activities needs to endure both intrinsic (muscle stiffness, muscle skeletal injuries and fatigue) and extrinsic (walking on slippery floor, light changes) perturbations. For realization of a given task with minimum effort, the most effective response should be given during continuous postural changes and the increase in body sway. This response is accomplished by utilization of postural control systems, which needs to combine the complex connection of both sensory (somatosensory, visual and vestibular) and motor systems. Postural control is complex motor skill, which needs interaction of sensory motor processes. Balance function needs effective usage of the whole system under postural control. Therefore, its role in performance and health has been a matter of interest among conditioning specialists and researchers for many years. There have been some studies concetrating on postural stability under dynamic and static conditions. These studies have created some measurement methods and these methods have been using to develop postural sensorimotor strategies for each individual sport branches. The purpose of the current review is to evaluate postural sway during accomplishment of sport specific motor tasks. So, a review will be conducted on current literature related with sport specific postural sway patterns. The current review is considered to provide a synthesis of the research-based knowledge on postural sway that has been one of the basics of sport performance.