title: Static and Dynamic Postural Changes after a Mountain Ultra-Marathon of 80 km and 5500 D.
abstract: The study aimed to investigate the effect of fatigue on static and dynamic postural stability after completing a mountain ultra-marathon. Twelve male athletes participated in the study. Postural stability was assessed before and immediately after the race. Static postural stability was evaluated on a dynamometric platform with eyes opened (OE) and closed (CE). Dynamic postural stability was assessed with OE on an instrumented plate which allowed medio-lateral oscillations. Stabilometric data were affected by fatigue in the OE condition, concerning sway path velocity (p = 0.0006), sway area velocity (p = 0.0006), area of the confidence ellipse (p = 0.0016), maximal anterior-posterior (AP) (p = 0.0017) and medio-lateral (ML) (p = 0.0039) oscillations. In the CE condition the sway path velocity (p = 0.0334), the maximal ML oscillations (p = 0.0161) and the area of the confident ellipse (p = 0.0180) were also negatively influenced. Stabilogram diffusion analysis showed in the OE condition an increase of short-term diffusion coefficients considering the anterior-posterior direction (Dfys; p = 0.0023) and the combination of the two (Dfr2s; p = 0.0032). Equally, long term diffusion coefficients increased considering the anterior-posterior direction (Dfyl; p = 0.0093) and the combination of the two (Dfr2l; p = 0.0086). In CE condition greater values were detected for medio-lateral direction (Dfxl; p = 0.033), anterior-posterior direction (Dfyl; p = 0.0459) and the combination of the two (Dfr2l; p = 0.0048). The dynamic postural stability test showed an increase of the time spent with the edges of the plate on the floor (p = 0.0152). Our results showed that mountain ultra-marathon altered static stability more than dynamic stability. An involvement of cognitive resources to monitor postural stability after fatiguing could be the explanation of the worsening in the automatic task (quiet standing) and of the positive compensation in the less automatic task (dynamic standing on the instrumented plate).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marcolin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grainer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reggiani
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bisiacchi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cona
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petrone
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0474-4229
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paoli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000531:Altitude; D056352:Athletes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture; D012420:Running