Balance ability
The ability to balance is the ability to keep one's entire body in a state of equilibrium or to maintain or restore this state during and after extensive body shifts. It is part of the coordinative skills . A functioning sense of balance , which is used to determine posture and orientation in space, should be a prerequisite for this ability . It has its center in the organ of equilibrium in the inner ear and cerebellum , but is also closely connected with the visual pathway and other senses as well as with reflexes .
It has since been found out that there is no such thing as the ability to balance. The equilibrium achievements of humans are skill-specific . In the following paragraphs, the ability to balance is presented as the concept states it should be.
Importance for sport
Balance has fundamental meanings in all areas of sport as there is a relationship between balance ability and performance in sport. A distinction is made between two types of balance ability, which clearly differ in their physiological processes. In order to measure it, one could, for example, specify the duration during which the state of equilibrium is maintained, or the speed of a movement execution and the accuracy of the restoration of equilibrium.
The variety of movements that have to do with balance can and should be used for training purposes. Despite sport-specific balance skills, it is important to strive for a general basic training in balance. Like the ability to differentiate, it develops particularly early and should therefore be trained very early on. As early as preschool and early school age, learners make great strides in movements that include the ability to balance. For example, the children learn to ride a unicycle extremely quickly . In addition, good balance is an important prophylaxis against injuries and the basis for increased athletic performance in the future.
The static balance ability
The static equilibrium ability relates to maintaining equilibrium in a relative rest position. Information from the kinesthetic, tactile, static-dynamic and optical analyzer is processed. It is also called the "sense of position" and comes into play in all the different postures of the human body: standing, sitting, lying down (for example with bobsledders) and also in positions with the head down (for example in apparatus gymnastics ). The development of the ability to balance already takes place in children's play and in everyday situations. Most of the time, however, this “training” of balance is not enough to achieve good results in sport, as specific movement requirements arise there.
The dynamic ability to balance
The dynamic ability to balance relates to the posture and restoration of balance in the event of large-scale changes in position and rotations of the body. The vestibular information is used in particular. The arch apparatus , which registers the stimuli caused by angular acceleration, forms the basis of dynamic balance . The dynamic ability to balance has a major role, especially in sports in which large and / or rapid changes in position are carried out. This can be seen, for example, when equipment is lost in apparatus gymnastics or when jumps are landed in figure skating and ski jumping .
The object-related ability to balance
This component of balance should not be neglected in sport either. It refers to the ability to balance an object with the body , such as a soccer ball on the foot.
See also
- Coordinative skills
- Disorientation , Romberg test , sloping position , ability to react
- Sense of sight
Sources and literature
- K. Meinel, G. Schnabel: Movement theory, sports motor skills, outline of a theory of sports motor skills from an educational perspective. 10th edition. Southwest, Munich 2006.
- J. Weineck: Optimal training, performance physiological training with special consideration of children and youth training. Perimded Verlag, Beilangen 1994.
- N. Olivier: On the skill-specificity of balance regulation. In: E. Loosch, M. Tamme (Ed.): Motor skills - structure and function. 1997.