Striking a balance in sports: the interrelation between children's sports experience, body size, and posture

Piali Bhati; Theodore C. K. Cheung; Gobika Sithamparanathan; Mark A. Schmuckler; Piali Bhati; Theodore C. K. Cheung; Gobika Sithamparanathan; Mark A. Schmuckler

doi:10.3934/Neuroscience.2022016

AIMS Neuroscience

2022, Volume 9, Issue 2: 288-302. doi: 10.3934/Neuroscience.2022016

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Striking a balance in sports: the interrelation between children's sports experience, body size, and posture

Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, ON, Canada, M1C 1A4

Received: 21 January 2022 Revised: 13 June 2022 Accepted: 20 June 2022 Published: 24 June 2022

This study investigated the relation between sports participation, body size, and postural control in children between 3 and 11 years of age. To explore this question, children's body sway was measured across multisensory conditions manipulating visual input (the presence versus absence of visual information) and proprioceptive input (varying stance widths), with postural sway in these conditions then related to reports of children's sports participation, and anthropometric measures. Corroborating well-known findings, postural sway was systematically influenced by multisensory factors, with the removal of visual information and narrower stance widths decreasing postural stability. Of more novelty, postural sway in the most stable stance, but without vision, was significantly predicted by measures of sports participation and body size variables, with these factors contributing independently to this prediction. Moreover, the impact on postural sway of having visual input, relative to removing visual input in unstable stances, was significantly predicted by sports participation in activities stressing changing stances and bases of support (e.g., dance, martial arts). Generally, these findings support multisensory and dynamic systems theories of perceptual-motor behavior, and also support sports specificity effects in assessments of the relation between posture and sports.
- postural control,
- multisensory influences,
- sports participation,
- dynamic systems,
- developmental processes
Citation: Piali Bhati, Theodore C. K. Cheung, Gobika Sithamparanathan, Mark A. Schmuckler. Striking a balance in sports: the interrelation between children's sports experience, body size, and posture[J]. AIMS Neuroscience, 2022, 9(2): 288-302. doi: 10.3934/Neuroscience.2022016

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Abstract

This study investigated the relation between sports participation, body size, and postural control in children between 3 and 11 years of age. To explore this question, children's body sway was measured across multisensory conditions manipulating visual input (the presence versus absence of visual information) and proprioceptive input (varying stance widths), with postural sway in these conditions then related to reports of children's sports participation, and anthropometric measures. Corroborating well-known findings, postural sway was systematically influenced by multisensory factors, with the removal of visual information and narrower stance widths decreasing postural stability. Of more novelty, postural sway in the most stable stance, but without vision, was significantly predicted by measures of sports participation and body size variables, with these factors contributing independently to this prediction. Moreover, the impact on postural sway of having visual input, relative to removing visual input in unstable stances, was significantly predicted by sports participation in activities stressing changing stances and bases of support (e.g., dance, martial arts). Generally, these findings support multisensory and dynamic systems theories of perceptual-motor behavior, and also support sports specificity effects in assessments of the relation between posture and sports.

Acknowledgments

The current research was funded by NSERC Discovery Grant awarded to M. A. S., and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship to T. C. K. C. We wish to thank research assistants Aneesah Bari, Aashika Nagarajan, Olivia Najdovski, Safiya Syed, Sangavi Sivananthan and Liliana Wu, and lab managers Deepika Elango, Salihah Faroze and the late Colleen Jenish, for their work on this project. Portions of this work were presented at the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science, Waterloo, ON, June 2019.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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