www.astesj.com 1 Single-leg Standing Ability and Lower Limb Movement Analysis of Collegiate Footballers and Sedentary Students Jiun Sien Lau, Vina Phei Sean Tan, Mohd Akmal Vahidi, Siti Hanisah Linggi Mohd Azam, Mohd Hafezi Mat Zain, Azilawati Azizan, Mazra Othman, Rosniwati Ghafar * Exercise and Sports Science, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, 16150, Malaysia A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received: 30 September, 2019 Accepted: 10 December, 2019 Online: 15 January, 2020 Stability or balance is an integral component to perform daily activities without incurring injury or to be dependent on others. Sportsmen tend to have better balance than non-sports people but less is known about the single-leg balance ability. Furthermore, few studies analyzed the dynamic phase of single-leg stance that may contribute to better overall balance. Sports like football tend to have instances where the player’s non-dominant leg keeps them in an upright position while the dominant leg kicks, passes and stops the ball. We aim to study the single-leg balance between collegiate footballers and sedentary students in eyes-closed (EC) and eyes-opened (EO) conditions and their contributing components to keep a body in an up-right position. Twenty collegiate footballers and 20 sedentary students conducted the unipedal stance test (UPST) on each leg with EO and EC conditions while standing on a force platform. We captured center of pressure (CoP) distance travelled, stance duration and using a 3D motion capture system, we assessed lower limb movement at six different anatomical sites. Results showed that footballers had better overall balance compared to sedentary students only in the non-dominant leg, EC condition with 12 footballers versus four sedentary students completing the full 45s stance (p=0.01) The other three UPST conditions did not show significant differences between groups. The CoP distance in the initial dynamic state and total UPST were both significantly shorter in footballers than sedentary students (p<0.05) during the non- dominant leg, EC stance. Our multivariable linear regression model significantly predicted time for UPST on non-dominant leg with EC up to 76.8% (p<0.001) with the first 5-s of greater trochanter movement significantly contributing to total time taken for UPST in footballers. Overall, playing football may enhance balance control intrinsically especially for the non-dominant side while being less reliant on visual input to maintain balance. Keywords: Balancing Lower limbs Footballer Sedentary 1. Introduction Balance is a crucial motor skill stemming from muscle synergies that lessens centre of pressure (CoP) displacement to effectively keep our body upright in a standing position, during locomotion and body orientation [1]. These muscle synergies are coordinated by the central nervous system with various inputs from our visual, vestibular and somatosensory systems [2]. In sports like gymnastics, balance is key to excel in the sport, however, other sports like football and basketball, static and dynamic balance are just as important although less apparent in their movements [3]. In football (considered as soccer in North America), most players shoot, pass and stop the ball with their dominant leg while the non-dominant leg supports their body weight [4]. Footballers often play and train on various turf conditions and wear cleated or non-cleated shoes. These conditions challenge trained footballers to develop better balance while mastering their football skills. Hence, top performing footballers have better posture stability and use less visual information to maintain their balance [5]. It is important to assess balance ability as it may relate to the level of sports performance and injury prevention. Single-limb and two-limb stance tests with eyes opened and with eyes closed are commonly used to test standing balance [6]. The unipedal stance ASTESJ ISSN: 2415-6698 * Corresponding Author: Rosniwati Ghafar, rosnikk@usm.my Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 1, 01-07 (2020) www.astesj.com Special Issue on Multidisciplinary Sciences and Engineering https://dx.doi.org/10.25046/aj050101