Falls are the leading cause of injuries among Canadians who are aged at 65 years and over. The assessment of dynamic stability has been proved as an effective method to identify fall-prone elderly individuals, which is essential to fall prevention. Tai Chi has been recommended as an effective exercise to prevent falls by the American Geriatric Society and British Geriatric Society. It is important to examine dynamic stability among Tai Chi practitioners and to explore the mechanisms of the effects of Tai Chi practice on fall prevention. This study examined the dynamic postural stability which is assessed by center of mass (COM) range of motion, COM - center of pressure (COP) separation, and temporospacial measures of gait during obstacle-walking in two groups: Tai Chi group and healthy controls. Fifteen participants in each group were asked to complete two walking conditions, level walking and 20cm-obstacle walking. Results showed that when compared with Tai Chi group, control group adopted a conservative crossing strategy with a significantly smaller crossing stride, higher heel clearance, and smaller pre horizontal distance to make obstacle crossing as safe as possible. This conservative strategy indicates the inability to cross obstacle casually and it may be associated with the decline in muscle strength and proprioception. It also showed that Tai Chi practitioners displayed a significantly larger COM range of motion in both anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) direction (p<0.05) and a significantly larger COM-COP separation in ML direction (p <0.01), as compared with control group. The larger range of motion of COM and distance between COM and COP indicates that Tai Chi practitioners have a better ability to tolerate unsteadiness, which means if perturbation occurs, Tai Chi practitioners have a larger range to shift COM in the boundary of base of support.

Autor: Marek Zámečník Title: Evaluation of the dynamic postural stability of extraleague players of Czech rugby Objective: The aim of this work is to evaluate the dynamic postural stability of extraleague players of Czech rugby and to compare its quality with the common population, occasional athletes and non-rugby players. Methods: Measurements will be performed on the NeuroCom® EquiTest® device, which I had available at the Kinesiology laboratory at the UK FTVS. There was tested 20 subjects divided into 2 groups by 10 people. First group of rugby players and the second group of non-rugby players. The age of all subjects ranges from 20 to 35 years. Results: There are no statistically significant differences in measured values. Most of the mean values of all stability tests (SOT, MCT, HS-SOT) have shown that rugby have a reduced ability to provide dynamic postural stability. Average scores for visual acuity testing have shown poor results in rugby, which may be caused by frequent injuries of head, face and eyes. Keywords: Dynamic postural stability, rugby, equitest, posture, balance

Title: Evaluation of postural stability of sprint kayak athletes. Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to compare the level of thy dynamic postural stability of sprint kayakers with healthy population, which don't do any sport regularly with computerized posturography on the NeuroCom SMART EquiTest device. Methods: It is quantitative cross-sectional study. 24 sprint kayakers (experimental group) participated in this study and 40 individuals (control group), which don't do any sport on competitive level. The dynamic postural stability was evaluated with computerized posturography on the NeuroCom SMART EquiTest device in the Laboratory of Applied Kinesiology at the Department of Physiotherapy in Charles University Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. Every participant was tested once in all seven tests - - Sensory Organization Test, Motor Control Test, Adaptation Test, Limits of Stability, Rythmic Weight Shift, Weight Bearing Squat, Unilateral Stance. Data was recorded and processed by the NeuroCom Balance Manager Software and then converted into Microsoft Excel 365 programe. Data was statistically analysed by Shapiro - Wilk test, Mann - Whitney test, Pair t - test and Cohen's d. Results: Due to low number of statistically significant differences, we couldn't say that sprint kayakers have better...

Title: The assessment of the dynamic postural stability of tennis players Objectives: The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate the dynamic postural stability of tennis players, who have been ranked in the Czech Republic and compare it with the dynamic postural stability the members of the population who do not play tennis. Another aim of this thesis is to evaluate the differences in the dynamic postural stability of male and female tennis players. Methods: This study is a quantitative cross-sectional study involving 24 participants playing tennis and 48 participants who do not play tennis. NeuroCom SMART EquiTest, which is located in the Kinesiological Laboratory of Charles University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, was used for the measurement and evaluation of the dynamic postural stability. Seven tests were chosen for this study: The Motor Control Test, The Sensory Organization Test, The Limits of Stability, The Adaptation Test, The Rhythmic Weight Shift, The Unilateral Stance, and The Weight Bearing. The obtained data was processed by the Neurocom Balance Manager Software and Shapiro-Wilk Test, Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney Test and Cohen's d (the effect size) were used for the analysis of the data. Results: Only a small amount of statistically significant data was found so we...

Autor: Filip Strakoš Title: Evaluation of dynamic postural stability of rugby players Objective: The aim of this work is to find out how is the dynamic postural stability of rugby players different from the dynamic postural stability of healthy population with regular physical activity that does not perform rugby. Methods: In my diploma thesis I use the computer posturograph NeuroCom Smart EquiTest to record and measure dynamic postural stability. This device mainly focuses on examinations with the possibility of subsequent therapy of mainly functional disorders in the musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, sensory and vestibular apparatus. Seven rugby players from the Prague club RC Praga were selected for the research. The players were 18-34 years old. The original number of probands was 20, but due to the pandemic situation, less players were involved in the research overall. The measurement took place in October 2020 in the laboratory of the Department of Physiotherapy at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University. SMART EquiTest includes the following standardized evaluation protocols Sensory Organization Test (SOT), Motor Control Test (MCT), Adaptation Test (ADT), Limits of Stability (LOS), Rhythmic Weight Shift (RWS), Weight Bearing Squat (WBS), Unilateral Stance (US). The...

Title: Use of virtual reality to evaluate the dynamic postural stability in beachvoleyball players Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate if the dynamic postural stability of trained beachvoleyball players is affected by training. Also I tried to evaluate, if the final score of equilibrium will be higher, than in regular population. For testing was also used virtual reality to stimulate vestibular apparatus. Virtual reality was used as a disturbing element. NeuroCom Smart Equi Test was used as an evaluation factor of dynamic postural stbility. Methods: The research involved a total of 20 females - 10 beachvoleyball players and 10 healthy persons performing activities of daily living. We investigated dynamic postural stability on device called NeuroCom Smart Equi Test. For evaluation of dynamic postural stability was used Head Shake Test - Sensory Organisation Test. This test was taken twice, second time after intervetion by virtual reality. Data were analyzed by statistical t-test method. Result: Statisticly significant result was found only in the case of a Sensory Organisation Test condiition 5 and 6 in comparison between both groups and Head Shake test-SOT2 in latero- lateral movement of the head at the controle group. The results confirmed the effect of playing beachvoleyball on...

Author: Bc. Kateřina Karšayová Title: Evaluation of dynamic postural stability in climbers Objectives: The main objective of this diploma thesis is to investigate the difference of dynamic postural stability in between climbers and recreational athletes and measure all the data by computerised dynamic posturography Smart EquiTest System from Neurocom Incorporated. Methods: This is a quantitative cross-sectional study involving 40 participants aged between 22 and 29 years divided into two groups (climbers, non-climbers). Measurements of dynamic postural stability were performed on Neurocom Smart EquiTest in the Kinesiological Laboratory of Charles University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. Motor Control Test, Sensory Organization Test and Limits of Stability test batteries were chosen for this study. The measured data was subsequently processed by Neurocom Balance Manager Software. The following statistical methods were used to analyze the data obtained by Neurocom: Shapiro - Wilk test, Student's t-test, Mann - Whitney test and Cohen's d effect size. Results: A statistically significant difference (in favor of climbers) was found in COND6 of Sensory Organization Test, where p-value was 0,04. In Motor Control Test there was a statistically significant difference (in favor of climbers) in...

I ABSTRACT Autor: Mgr. Helena Vomáčková Title: The Possibilities of Evaluation of the Sport Performance on the Postural Functions - CDP Normative Data for Sport Population Objective: The main aim of the dissertation is to determine the standardized values (normative data) of individual parameters of test protocols obtainable with usage of dynamic computer posturography of the NeuroCom SMART EquiTest System (hereinafter SMEQ). The partial second goal is to compare the determined normative data with the existing values used for routine evaluation of postural stability given by the SMEQ software. Another partial goal is to determine the reliability of individual test parameters in an additional pilot survey. Methods: Data for the determination of standardized values were obtained by laboratory measurements using the SMEQ system and subsequently were converted, unified and adjusted for further processing by statistical "software R". To determine the normative data, an input data-set obtained from a deliberately selected group of active athletes (n = 245) in the selected age range of 20 - 30 years with an average age of 24,04 (± 1,23 years), with an average body height of 173, 29 (± 10,04 cm), mean body weight 68,46 (± 13,10 kg) and mean BMI 22,67 (± 3,04) was used. To calculate the predicted normative data for...

Title: Evaluation of dynamic postural stability of basketball players Objectives: The aim of this diploma thesis is to evaluate and compare the level of dynamic postural stability between basketball league players and healthy population, who don't do any regular physical activity, using dynamic computer posturography named NeuroCom Smart EquiTest System. Another aim of this study is to objectively assess differences in postural stability between males and females or depending on history of previous injury of ankle joint. Methods: This quantitative observational cross-sectional study involved 64 probands between the ages of 19-29 years. The experimental group consisted of basketball players (n1 = 24) and control group of non-athletes (n2 = 40). Each group was divided into two halves of men and women. NeuroCom Smart EquiTest System was chosen for objective measure of dynamic postural stability, which was held at the Laboratory of applied kinesiology of Charles University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. Following five protocols were chosen from the test battery: Sensory Organization Test, Motor Control Test, Limits of Stability, Adaptation Test and Unilateral Stance. Then the measured data were processed by NeuroCom Balance Manager Software and for statistical analysis these statistical...

Title: Evaluation of the ability to dynamically stabilize and postural strategy of Czech female handball players Author: Bc. Michaela Pešková Aim: The main objective of the diploma thesis is to investigate the difference of dynamic postural stability and its strategy between female handball players in the Czech republic and the group of women, who don't practise any sport. For the objectivization is used a dynamic posturography Smart EquiTest by NeuroCom company. Methods: The participants of this quantitative cross-sectional study are 44 women, divided into the experimental (24 handball players) and the control group (20unsporting women) in the age from 18 to 28 years old. Measurements of dynamic postural stability were performed on Smart EquiTest by Neurocom in the Kinesiological Laboratory at the department of the physiotherapy on Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of Charles University. The whole test battery contains 7 testing protocols. The measured data from z Neurocom Balance Manager Software were exported to Microsoft Excel 2016, where were used other statistical methods like Shapiro - Wilk test, Student's T-test, Mann - Whitney test and Cohen's d effect size.. Results: A statistically significant difference in favor of non-handball players was found of Limits of Stability, Sensory...