title: Leisure sports and postural control: can a black belt protect your balance from aging?
abstract: To determine potential benefits of intensive leisure sports for age-related changes in postural control, we tested 3 activity groups comprising 70 young (M = 21.67 years, SD = 2.80) and 73 older (M = 62.60 years, SD = 5.19) men. Activity groups were martial artists, who held at least 1st Dan (black belt), sportive individuals exercising sports without explicit balance components, and nonsportive controls. Martial artists had an advantage over sportive individuals in dynamic posture tasks (upright stance on a sway-referenced platform), and these 2 active groups showed better postural control than nonsportive participants. Age-related differences in postural control were larger in nonsportive men compared with the 2 active groups, who were similar in this respect. In contrast, negative age differences in other sensorimotor and cognitive functions did not differ between activity groups. We concluded that individuals engaging in intensive recreational sports have long-term advantages in postural control. However, even in older martial artists with years of practice in their sports, we observed considerable differences favoring the young.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Leuven.
authors.forename: Ralf T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Krampe
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Leuven.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smolders
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Leuven.
authors.forename: Michail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doumas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D016139:Martial Arts / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult