Lower Extremity Horizontal Work, But Not Vertical Power, Predicts Balance Performance in Female Collegiate Dancers

Abstract

Dancers, similar to other athletes, often perform vertical and horizontal jumps. Lower extremity (LE) work, power, and balance are important in performing these movements. However, whether these qualities are inter-related in dancers remains unclear. Our purposes were to examine if 1. LE horizontal work, vertical power, and balance were inter-related, and 2. LE horizontal work and vertical power would predict balance in female collegiate dancers. Sixty-one collegiate female dancers (18.3 +/- 0.7 years; 164.7 +/- 7.3 cm; 61.7 +/- 9.5 kg) performed Single Leg Hops (SLH, m), and Vertical Jumps (VJ, cm). The resulting distances were used to calculate horizontal work (hWork, joules = weight[N] * SLH), and vertical power (vPower, watts = 78.5 * VJ + 60.6 * mass[kg] 15.3 * height [cm] 1,308). Balance was operationally defined as the bilateral composite Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBTcom, % leg-length-LL) reach scores in the anterior, posterolateral, and posteromedial directions. Pearson correlation coefficients examined relationships among hWork, vPower, and SEBTcom. A stepwise linear regression examined whether hWork and vPower predicted balance (p

Publication
J Dance Med Sci