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K.T. Malwanage1, V.V. Senadheera1, T.L. Dassanayake2
1Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Department of Physiotherapy, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 2Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Department of Physiology, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Background: Badminton is a racquet sport which requires a wide variety of postural changes and moves including jumps, lunges, quick changes in direction, and rapid arm movements. Efficient movement in badminton court entails reaching the shuttlecock in as few steps as possible while maintaining good balance and keeping body under control. Therefore, it is necessary for badminton players to move with a stable stance while maintaining their own readiness with better footwork to perform quality shots. Physical training exercises in badminton mainly focus on improving strength, flexibility, speed, and agility. Balance training is an unexploited component in badminton training protocol although it helps both injury prevention and performance enhancement.
Purpose: We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of balance training on enhancing footwork performance of school-level competitive badminton players.
Methods: A two -way, randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 30 male badminton players in 13-15 years age group. Stratified random sampling was done to assign players into intervention (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. Stratification was done according to the level of performance. Intervention group was involved in a specially designed one-hour balance training program together with one-hour ordinary badminton training, two days per week for 08 weeks.Control group engaged in two hourly ordinary badminton training, two days per week for eight weeks.
Unipedal stance test, star excursion balance test, and shuttle run test were conducted to assess balance and stability of each player before and after the 08-week intervention. Push-off times during seven badminton shots (viz. front forehand, front backhand, side forehand, side backhand, rear forehand, rear backhand, rear around-the-head) were assessed using high-speed video monitoring, as the outcome measures of footwork performance of each player before and after 08-week badminton training.
Balance performance, shuttle run time, and footwork performance of 08 participants in control group and 12 participants in treatment group were analyzed as there were 10 dropouts at the end of 08-week badminton training. Two-way mixed-ANOVA (group x time) was conducted on all variables to evaluate the effect of 08-weeks of balance training on balance parameters and badminton footwork performance.
Unipedal stance test, star excursion balance test, and shuttle run test were conducted to assess balance and stability of each player before and after the 08-week intervention. Push-off times during seven badminton shots (viz. front forehand, front backhand, side forehand, side backhand, rear forehand, rear backhand, rear around-the-head) were assessed using high-speed video monitoring, as the outcome measures of footwork performance of each player before and after 08-week badminton training.
Balance performance, shuttle run time, and footwork performance of 08 participants in control group and 12 participants in treatment group were analyzed as there were 10 dropouts at the end of 08-week badminton training. Two-way mixed-ANOVA (group x time) was conducted on all variables to evaluate the effect of 08-weeks of balance training on balance parameters and badminton footwork performance.
Results: After 8-week badminton training, none of the balance measurements was significantly different between groups. Significant group x time interactions were observed in push-off times for side-forehand shots [F(1,18)= 6.55, p= 0.02] and rear around-the-head shots [F(1,17)= 3.914, p= 0.064)]. Subsequent pairwise comparisons of these interactions showed that in intervention groups’ mean push-off time for side forehand shots reduced from 266.38 ± 78.03 ms to 159 ± 24.87 ms with mean reduction of 67.38 ± 92.91 ms (t(11) = 2.512, p = 0.029). Similarly, their mean push-off time for rear around-the-head shots also reduced from 220.8 ± 51.21 ms to 179.09 ± 25.07 ms with mean reduction of 41.71 ± 59.17 ms in intervention group. None of the footwork performance measures significantly improved in control group.
Conclusion(s): We found that footwork performance of adolescent badminton players in side forehand and rear around-the-head shots can be improved by incorporating an 8-week balance training to the regular badminton training.
Implications: Properly designed balance training schedule could improve footwork performance of adolescent badminton players.
Funding, acknowledgements: The study is a self-funded study.
Keywords: balance training, footwork performance, badminton
Topic: Sport & sports injuries
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Committee: Ethical Review Committee, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences
Ethics number: (AHS/ERC/2018/005)
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
