Summary


INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOWER EXTREMITY BALANCE ASYMMETRY AND ACCELERATION, SPEED AND AGILITY PERFORMANCE IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS

In movements performed unilaterally by humans, asymmetry is related to differences in bio-motor skills such as strength, flexibility, balance and agility between dominant and non-dominant extremities. This situation negatively affects the movement efficiency that humans display, leading to lower sports performance and injuries. In line with this information, the aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between lower extremity balance asymmetry and acceleration, speed and agility performance in healthy individuals. The research included 44 male participants with a mean age of 16.27±.788 years, a mean body weight of 61.59±5.59 kg, a mean height of 1.75±.062 cm, and a mean body mass ındex (BMI) of 20.40±1.57 kg.m-2. “Personal Information Form,” “Y Dynamic Balance Test (YDBT),” “10 Meter Acceleration Test,” “20 Meter Sprint Test” and “505 Agility Test” were used as data collection tools. The research data were analyzed with Pearson Correlation Test and Independent Samples T-Test among descriptive statistics. As a result, no significant correlation was found between lower extremity balance asymmetry and balance scores and acceleration, sprint and agility performance (p>.05). However, there was a moderately significant (p<.05) positive correlation between asymmetry index with right composite and inter-limb difference. At the same time, It was found that in most of the participants (n: 32) the difference between right and left anterior score was less than 4 centimeters. This suggests that there may be a low risk of injury due to the difference between extremities.



Keywords

Agility, Balance asymmetry, Injury risk, Speed



References