ANALYSIS OF THE BALANCE CONTROL IN SURFERS DURING THE ERECT POSTURE

Background: Surfing is a sport that has become considerably popular, which increased interest in research about the aspects that can influence on the performance of these athletes, such as injuries, aerobic fitness and reaction time. Due to the ever-changing environment and high instability required for surfing, the surfers must develop some neuromuscular skills (agility, balance, muscle strength and flexibility) to acquire better performance in this modality. Nevertheless, there are still few scientific studies concerned about the investigation of these motor skills in surfing. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the balance control in surfers compared to practitioners of other physical activities. Methods: Participants remained on a force platform while performing tasks involving visual deprivation (eyes open or closed) and somatosensory disturbance (steady surface or use of foam), with covariation of experimental conditions. The following variables were analyzed: speed and root mean square (RMS) displacement of the center of pressure in the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions. Results: The results showed no difference between groups during the experimental conditions, that is to say, both surfers and the control group varied over the conditions of eyes closed and on foam. Conclusion: Although surfing requires the surfer to have great balance control, the results did not reveal a relationship between this sport and better performance in balance control. However, we must consider the small sample size and the fact that this sport requires dynamic balance, while the study evaluated static balance.

Atitude crítica de idosos sobre atividade física

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a atitude crítica em relação à atividade física dos idosos do Programa Autonomia para Atividade Física. Participaram do estudo 18 sujeitos que responderam duas questões abertas após vivência das seguintes aulas: atividade rítmica, yoga, dança circular, tai chi chuan, dança de salão, aerobox e atividades para idosos orientadas através de vídeo. A análise qualitativa resultou em duas categorias de respostas: reflexão sobre necessidades pessoais e reconhecimento de inadequações nas atividades propostas. Dessas respostas, 43% indicam reflexão crítica e 37% apontam inadequações. Os resultados sugerem que a maioria das respostas não demonstra atitude crítica em relação às aulas vivenciadas. Entretanto, uma das limitações deste estudo foi a dificuldade dos alunos no procedimento da escrita, indicando a necessidade de criar outras estratégias para avaliar a população idosa que é heterogênea em termos de escolarização e experiências de vida.