Postural stability during skating-specific postural tasks in female figure skaters of different age

Introduction: Postural stability is a crucial component of figure skating performance, especially during jump landings and the execution of complex coordination elements (Kovacs et al., 2004). Effective postural control is necessary not only for optimizing athletic performance but also for reducing the risk of injuries, which frequently occur during single-leg landings (Saunders et al., 2014). Previous research has shown that postural stability in athletes may differ according to the type of sport, suggesting that sport-specific demands should be considered when assessing balance performance. Moreover, centre of pressure (CoP)-based stabilometric parameters can provide useful information about postural stability and may help to develop sport-specific assessment approaches (Andreeva et al., 2021). Evaluating balance in tasks that closely replicate skating movements may improve the ecological validity of testing and help to identify differences between skaters of varying experience levels. Further investigation is therefore needed to determine whether skating-specific postural tasks can distinguish between more and less experienced figure skaters (Mangum et al., 2023; O’Connor, 2015). The aim of the study was to assess differences in postural stability during skating-specific postural tasks in female figure skaters of different age.Methods: The study sample consisted of 30 female competitors from figure skating clubs, divided into a younger group (n = 18, age 7 to 10 years) and an older group (n = 12, age 11 to 14 years). Participants underwent measurements under static conditions through unilateral standing for 30 s (3 attempts per limb and task) in three specific positions: flamingo stance, forward lean and landing position. Postural stability was measured using a force plate (Kistler Instrumente, Winterthur, Switzerland). The output variables derived from centre of pressure (CoP) movement included CoP variability (standard deviation) in the mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior (AP) directions for the dominant and non-dominant lower limb. Statistical analysis was performed using three-way ANOVA (task, group, limb) in Statistica (TIBCO Software Inc., USA), followed by LSD post-hoc tests where appropriate.Results: A significant task effect was observed for AP CoP variability (p < 0.001), with the highest values found during the forward lean task compared with the flamingo stance and landing position. A significant task effect was also found for ML CoP variability (p = 0.034), again with the highest values observed during the forward lean task. In addition, a significant group effect was found for ML CoP variability (p = 0.002), indicating greater mediolateral sway in the less experienced group. No significant limb effect or interaction effects were observed.Conclusions: The results suggest that the forward lean task places the greatest demands on AP postural control and may also reveal group-related differences in ML sway. Therefore, forward lean appears to be the most sensitive of the tested skating-specific tasks for postural stability assessment in female figure skaters.