Trunk balance assessment in wheelchair basketball players


Ozunlu N., ERGUN N.

TURKISH JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY REHABILITATION-FIZYOTERAPI REHABILITASYON, cilt.23, sa.1, ss.44-50, 2012 (ESCI) identifier identifier

Özet

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the trunk balance of people with disabilities who play wheelchair basketball. Methods: Sixty-six wheelchair basketball players including 48 with poliomyelitis and 18 with amputation were included in this study. Modified functional reach test, bilateral reach test and lateral reach test were used to assess the trunk balance. In order to determine the norm values of trunk balance, the test results were grouped according to the classification of the patients and mean +/- standard deviations were calculated. Differences between groups were analyzed with t test. Results: No significant difference was found between players with amputation and poliomyelitis in modified functional reach test (p=0.051), bilateral reach test (p=0.108) and Lateral Reach Test (p=0.963) values. The means and standard deviations of trunk balance test values of wheelchair basketball players with poliomyelitis and amputation can be used as preliminary values for establishing trunk balance of wheelchair basketball players. Conclusion: These results are helpful and easily understood parameters for classifiers. In the event of increasing the number of participants, these results can provide important norm values for the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and International Paralympics Committee (IPC).