title: Multi-segmental postural coordination in professional ballet dancers.
abstract: Ballet dancers have heightened balance skills, but previous studies that compared dancers to non-dancers have not quantified patterns of multi-joint postural coordination. This study utilized a visual tracking task that required professional ballet dancers and untrained control participants to sway with the fore-aft motion of a target while standing on one leg, at target frequencies of 0.2 and 0.6Hz. The mean and variability of relative phase between the ankle and hip, and measures from cross-recurrence quantification analysis (i.e., percent cross-recurrence, percent cross-determinism, and cross-maxline), indexed the coordination patterns and their stability. Dancers exhibited less variable ankle-hip coordination and a less deterministic ankle-hip coupling, compared to controls. The results indicate that ballet dancers have increased coordination stability, potentially achieved through enhanced neuromuscular control and/or perceptual sensitivity, and indicate proficiency at optimizing the constraints that enable dancers to perform complex balance tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, United States. adam_kiefer@brown.edu
authors.forename: Adam W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shockley
authors.forename: Candace A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sitton
authors.forename: Timothy E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Hewett
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cummins-Sebree
authors.forename: Jacqui G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Haas
mesh_terms: D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D053587:Arthrometry, Articular / Q000295:instrumentation; D003615:Dancing / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D055815:Young Adult