Abstracts

Balance is the ability to maintain an individualscentre of mass over his or her base of support while standing.Ballet dancers have better balance than non-dancer control groupsas they presented with better sensory-motor integrative skills whenrequired to maintain a given posture for a longer period. Toevaluate functional balance abilities, assessing individuals withabove average balance abilities may provide valuable informationabout function. The balance of trained ballet dancers (N1) wasinvestigated by comparing Sensory Organisaiton Test (SOT), MotorControl Test (MCT) and Limits of Stability (LOS) test results tomatched non-trained individuals (N2). A quasi-experimental and twogroup design was used. Ten matched trained ballet dancers (N1) and10 untrained individuals were included in the study. Trained balletdancers (N1) had an average of 16.6 ( 4.24) years of experience,while non-trained individuals (N2) had none. No significantdufferences in demographic data was present between groups. Bothgroups reflected good overall balance and similar sensoryorganization. No differences in reflex latencies and weightsymmetry of the left or right leg was present. Trained balletdancers (N1) reflected higher response strength for medium forwardtranslations (p.05) with the left leg, indicating poorer amplitudescaling in response to platform translations than those ofnon-trained individuals (N2). In non-trained individuals (N2),there was less variation in the response strength between legs.Research indicated that stretch reflex amplitude was attenuated asload stability was reduced. Co-contraction was also heightened asstability was reduced, but not enough to oppose the inducedinstability, probably due to feed-forward strategies instead ofrapid involuntary feedback. Trained ballet dancers (N1) were ableto extend further out of their Centre of Pressure (COP) thannon-trained individual (N2) during forward (p<.05) and rightforward (p<.05) movements. It was concluded that that forforward and right forward movements, ballet dancers used thefeedback they received during the movements better than non-trainedindividuals (N2), resulting in a better awareness of where to go inspace and how to reach that position after a subsequent attempt.This difference may be as a result of continuous training. Ballettraining exercises can be used to rehabilitate individuals withimpaired limits of stability. Further studies should be done onexactly which ballet training exercise results in increased limitsof stability.Advisors/Committee Members: Vinck, Bart M. (advisor), Heinze, Barbara M. (coadvisor), Maes, Leen K. (coadvisor).