THE INFULENCE OF RUNNING FATIGUE ON BALANCE AND REACTION TIME

Authors

DK Brennan
J Cunningham
C Crane

Abstract

David K. Brennan¹, Jeffrey Cunningham¹, Christopher Crane^{1 1}University of Oklahoma, School of Community Medicine, Center for Exercise and Sports Medicine, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of fatigue on postural balance and reaction time while utilizing a smart phone based medical application. Our research objective was to determine if physical fatigue decreases performance on a modified balance error scoring system (mBESS) test and simple reaction time (RT). METHODS: A convenience sample of 15 males, mean age 37.2 (±9.2), mean BMI 26.3kg·m^-2 (±3.7) and15 females, mean age 36.9 (±14.0), mean BMI 22.9 kg·m^-2 (±3.7). Participants performed three instrumented mBESS and RT tests in succession to establish pre-exercise baseline. Scores ranged from 0-100 with 100 representing a perfect score. Following a 6minutewarmupat a self-selected light intensity on a motorized treadmill, participants completed a progressive maximal graded exercise test on a motorized treadmill. Workloads began at 2.5 mph with 0% grade with speed being increased by 0.5mpheverytwo minutes until subject reached ~ 80% of his age predicted max. Stages were then reduced to 1:00 minute duration until exhaustion. HR and Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE10) were measured the last 30 seconds of each stage and 1-minute post exercise. Tests were terminated once the participant reached voluntary exhaustion or as determined by a standardized criterion. After a 5-minuterecovery participants repeated both mBESS and RT tests. RESULTS: Repeated measures paired T-Tests were performed for males and females. Males performance on mBESS decreased significantly after maximal exercise for Combined scores (p<001) for tandem stance (bilaterally) and RT (p<0.05). For females only mBESS feet together position was different after maximal exercise (p<0.05) (see table 1). CONCLUSION: Males showed a significant change in balance and reaction time across three mBESS stances and RT after maximal exercise. Females demonstrated significant changes only for the mBESS feet together task.

Recommended Citation

Brennan, DK; Cunningham, J; and Crane, C (2019) "THE INFULENCE OF RUNNING FATIGUE ON BALANCE AND REACTION TIME," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 11: Iss. 7, Article 77.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol11/iss7/77