Proprioceptive training and balance skills among dancers

Nowadays dancers are encourage to develop their general fitness, and specially their proprioception. This is also called sensory-motor training. This study looked at the effects of proprioceptive training on balance in dancers.

Thirty-eight dancers (male and female) were allocated in control and intervention group. The experimental group followed a proprioceptive training program over a period of 12 weeks (3 x 30 minutes per week); this included exercises performed in balance boards of different dimensions, working surfaces and sizes of backbone were used. The control group had regular sport dance training. A total of 7 balance skills were measured at the beginning and at the end of the experiment (i.e one-leg balance, two-leg balance,balancing with open or closed eyes)

Overall there was a significant difference among the groups in the final measurement (p=.00); The experimental group scored higher in all the test performance. Therefore, the use of a proprioceptive training model, as an innovative approach in individual and group fitness dance is advisable.

> From: Ljubojevic et al., Phys Ed Sport 10 (2014) 257-266. All rights reserved to The Author(s). Click here for the Pubmed summary.