BALANCE IMPROVEMENT FOR SPORT CLIMBERS

Background. Sport climbing is relatively new type of sport where the main goal is to ascend an artificial rock
climbing wall which has artificial rock holds. The popularity of climbing as a competitive sporting pursuit has raised
questions of ideal training regimens (Sheel, 2004). In sport climbing balance is an essential physical quality that can be
crucial during competition. However, majority of sport climbers spend far less time on improving their balance during
training process than it actually requires to improve balance. Furthermore, if improvement of balance is integrated into
the training process, it is hard to tell whether the balance has improved or not due to complexity of measuring the balance.
Research methods. The aim of the research was to define the efficiency of developed exercise program for balance
improvement. The participants were 22 sport climbers aged 15 and above with at least 3 years of sport climbing
experience. The exercise program was developed based on the review of scientific literature (Friedmann, 2014; Jacobson
& Shepard, 2016). The program include 19 exercises for improving of the balance. The climbers performed this exercises
three times per week (one session last 30 min) in nine weeks period. The pre and post testing was done by BioSway
portable balance system with Test of Sensory Integration and Balance (mCTSIB) protocol. The gained data were analyzed
with MS Excel (Shapiro–Wilk test and T-test).
Results and discussion. When repeated balance tests were performed after applying the complex of balance
improving exercises for sport climbers for a nine week period, conclusions were made that all balance tests which did not
have emphasis on sight sensory system had statistically significant. However, balance tests with Biosway device that
included closing eyes, showed improvements, but improvements are not statistically significant. After applying the
complex of balance improving exercises it was conclude that mean improvement of statical balance in LOS balance test
is 4.2%, in M-CTSIB test by 7 coefficient units (solid surface, eyes open), by 6.3 coefficient units (solid surface, eyes
closed), by 13.2 coefficient units (soft surface, eyes open) and by 21 coefficient units (soft surface, eyes closed). Dynamic
balance abilities for sample group have increased by 28%. During initial testing only 39% of sample group passed the
dynamic balance test, however after applying the complex of balance improving exercises dynamic balance test was
passed by 67% of the sample group.
Conclusions. After the conducted experiment conclusion is that balance tests which did not have emphasis on
sight sensory system, sample group showed statistically significant improvement of results after applying of the complex
of balance improvement exercises. However, balance tests with emphasis on sight sensory system, improvement is
present, although it is not statistically significant, what actually approves the hypothesis due to absence of balance
exercises with emphasis on sight sensory system, proving that balance ability depends on sight sensory system too.