Does long-term sports experience change the body balance of athletes? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Sports practice promotes physiological adaptations influenced by the characteristics of training stimuli, and postural balance appears to play an important role in athletic performance. To analyze postural control in athletes - obtained from the displacements of the center of pressure during orthostatic posture, considering elite athletes and control groups (non-athletes or athletes with a lower competitive level). Method: The search in electronic databases was carried out in PubMed, Scopus, and Scielo until April 2023, with works selected between 1976 and 2023. An assessment of the methodological quality of the studies was carried out. In addition, in the meta-analysis, the main center of pressure variables used were oscillation area, mean velocity, and total mean velocity. Results: Twenty studies were included, and the meta-analysis showed differences in favor of athletes in the conditions of single-leg support with eyes open and eyes closed, with a greater difference in the second situation. Overall, athletes presented better postural balance compared to the non-athlete group and, among athletes, those with a higher competitive level presented the best postural strategy. Conclusions: The results suggest that sports training improves postural control and that the differences in favor of athletes are greater in more challenging/unstable postural conditions.