Effect of COVID-19 on Maintaining Balance in Highly Skilled Handball Players

Fernández-Rodríguez Emilio, Niźnikowski Tomasz (), Ramos Oscar Romero and Markwell Logan
Additional contact information
Fernández-Rodríguez Emilio: University of Malaga, Faculty of Education Sciences, Sport Department, Spain
Niźnikowski Tomasz: Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Physical Education and Health, Biała Podlaska, Poland
Ramos Oscar Romero: University of Malaga, Faculty of Education Sciences, Sport Department, Spain
Markwell Logan: University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, 2023, vol. 30, issue 3, 18-22

Abstract: Introduction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on maintaining balance in highly skilled handball players during the performance of the modified Romberg test. Material and Methods. As part of a larger investigation that was initiated in 2019, twelve professional handball players were recruited to participate in a study that was designed to measure static balance performance. Following the initial pre-test, six participants (body height 184.8 ± 4.7 cm; body weight 85.5 ± 3.3 kg; age 21.3 ± 1.2 years) contracted COVID-19. The remaining six participants (body height 188.7 ± 2.6 cm; body weight 92.3 ± 3.7 kg; age 26.3 ± 3.3 years) never tested positive for COVID-19 and pre-sumably were not infected with the virus. The experimental design required all participants to complete an initial balance assessment (pre-test) and a later balance assessment (post-test). To fully analyze our data, we conducted a 2 (condition: COVID, no-COVID) X 2 (test: pre-test, post-test) ANOVA with repeated measures on the second factor. Results. Our research results showed that the skilled handball players who contracted COVID-19 mani-fested a significant decrease in balance performance from the pre-test which occurred prior to being infected with COVID-19 relative to the post-test which occurred following the COVID-19 infection. Conclusions. In conclusion, the results we have reported here are the first to show an objectively measured association between COVID-19 and the ability to maintain balance. Further intensive multifaceted research on this issue is needed.

Keywords: sports; COVID-19; pandemic; athlete; handball players (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2023-0015 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:spotou:v:30:y:2023:i:3:p:18-22:n:1

DOI: 10.2478/pjst-2023-0015

Access Statistics for this article

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism is currently edited by Ryszard Cieśliński

More articles in Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().