Abstract

 Background and Aim: Regard with the importance of balance in daily activities especially in sport activities and understanding the important factor affecting it, the purpose of this study was to compare the role of vision system on dynamic postural stability of young women with men elite athletes.

Materials and Methods: Twenty six young women and men elite swimmer were chosen from the available society. They were divided in two groups according to body mass index. Each subject performed postural stability tests for 6 trials with open and close eyes (3 trials with open and 3 trial with close eyes) that each trial was taken for 30 seconds and with 10 seconds rest between each of them. Balance index in anterior- posterior and medial- lateral directions were calculated and independent t test was used to compare between groups.

Result: Results show that men swimmer are more depended to vision than women swimmer in maintaining retrieval postural stability (p= 0.001), while most impairment in maintaining postural stability in both groups occur in lack of vision status in anterior- posterior direction (p= 0.001).

 Conclusion: The findings of this study can be used to design training programs to prepare athletes.

Key words: balance, vision, athlete, control