Abstract:

The study aimed to determine the effect of the lower body, upper body, and whole-body static stretching exercises on postural control in basketball players aged 11-13 years. Sixteen basketball players joined the study on a voluntary basis (Age: 11.44 ± 0.89 years, height: 158.25 ± 7.79 cm, weight: 54.19 ± 12.30 kg, experience in sport: 2.34 ± 1.17 years). Participants were included in the study under 4 different experimental conditions on different days: 1) Upper Body Stretching Exercise Group (UBSE), 2) Lower Body Stretching Exercise Group (LBSE), 3) Mixed Stretching Exercise Group (MSE), 4) Control Group (C). Participants randomly included in the study conditions performed static stretching exercises for about 12 minutes, each lasting 30 seconds and resting for 15 seconds between them. Postural control measurements were performed before and after static stretching exercises using the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS). Foam surface BESS scores were not significantly different between the groups in both the pretest and posttest comparisons (p>0.05). Foam surface UBSE pretest-posttest difference scores were higher than LBSE, and MSE difference scores were higher than LBSE and C groups (p<0.05). No significant difference was found in the pre-test and post-test comparisons of the UBSE, LBSE, and C groups on foam surface (p>0.05), but the MSE post-test BESS scores were lower than the pre-test (p<0.05). When the total BESS scores were examined, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental groups in the pre-test, post-test, and difference scores (p>0.05). While there was no difference in the pretest-posttest total BESS scores of the UBSE, LBSE, and C groups (p>0.05), a significant decrease was found in the total BESS scores of the MSE in the posttest (p<0.05). In conclusion, static stretching exercises for the upper and lower body did not affect postural control, whereas static stretching exercises for the whole body increased the performance of postural sway.

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