Pre-bout standing body sway differs between adult boxers who do and do not report post-bout motion sickness.
BACKGROUND
Motion sickness is characterized by subjective symptoms that include dizziness and nausea. Studies have shown that subjective symptoms of motion sickness are preceded by differences in standing body sway between those who experience the symptoms and those who are not. Boxers often report dizziness and nausea immediately after bouts. We predicted that pre-bout standing body sway would differ between boxers who experienced post-bout motion sickness and those who did not.


RESULTS
We collected data on standing body sway before bouts. During measurement of body sway participants performed two visual tasks. In addition, we varied stance width (the distance between the heels). Postural testing was conducted separately before and after participants' regular warm-up routines. After bouts, we collected self-reports of motion sickness incidence and symptoms. Results revealed that standing body sway was greater after warm-up than before warm-up, and that wider stance width was associated with reduced sway. Eight of 15 amateur boxers reported motion sickness after a bout. Two statistically significant interactions revealed that standing body sway before bouts differed between participants who reported post-bout motion sickness and those who did not.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that susceptibility to motion sickness in boxers may be manifested in characteristic patterns of body sway. It may be possible to use pre-bout data on postural sway to predict susceptibility to post-bout motion sickness.
School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America.
Yi-Chou
YC
Chen
Ting-Hsuan
TH
Hung
Tzu-Chiang
TC
Tseng
City C
CC
Hsieh
Fu-Chen
FC
Chen
Thomas A
TA
Stoffregen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001914:Boxing / Q000502:physiology*; D004244:Dizziness / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009041:Motion Sickness / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009325:Nausea / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult