Author(s): WANG, H., ZHU, F.Y., CHEN, W.H., CHU, M.Y., Institution: NATIONAL TAIWAN SPORT UNIVERSITY, Country: TAIWAN, Abstract-ID: 259

INTRODUCTION:
Balance ability is considered an important factor influencing both injury risk and sport-specific performance. In Taekwondo, athletes frequently perform single-leg support, rapid kicking, and dynamic landing movements, which place high demands on postural control. However, the relationship between competitive performance level and balance ability in Taekwondo athletes has not been systematically examined. Furthermore, balance performance is task-dependent, and traditional static balance tests may lack sufficient sensitivity to discriminate performance levels among highly trained athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate balance performance during general and Taekwondo-specific tasks under open- and closed-eye conditions, and to compare balance ability between athletes of different competitive performance levels.
METHODS:
A total of 33 Taekwondo athletes voluntarily participated in this study. Based on their competitive achievements over the preceding two years, participants were classified into a general group (n = 17) and an elite group (n = 16). All participants completed a battery of balance assessments, including single-leg stance, single-leg stance with side kick, the dynamic single-leg multiple jump stabilization test (DSLMJST), and the single-leg drop landing test (SLDLT). Each task was performed under both open- and closed-eye conditions. Independent-samples t-tests were used to examine between-group differences in balance-related variables. The level of statistical significance was set at α = .05.
RESULTS:
No significant between-group differences were observed in COP sway area or sway path length during general or sport-specific single-leg stance tasks under either open- or closed-eye conditions, nor in error scores during the DSLMJST (p > .05). In the SLDLT, no group differences were found under general landing conditions; however, under sport-specific landing conditions, the elite group exhibited significantly smaller COP sway area (t = 2.039, p = .050) and shorter sway path length (t = 6.060, p < .001) than the general group.
CONCLUSION:
No significant differences in COP-based balance parameters were observed between general and elite Taekwondo athletes during single-leg stance tasks under either open- or closed-eye conditions, indicating that conventional static balance tests may lack sensitivity to detect training-related balance adaptations. In contrast, the sport-specific SLDLT effectively discriminated balance ability between performance levels, suggesting that assessments incorporating sport-specific movement characteristics provide greater ecological validity for evaluating balance performance in Taekwondo athletes.