Assessing the effect of functional fatigue and gender on dynamic control of posture

Fatigue is a factor that disrupts balance and leads to sport injuries. Female athletes have a much higher incidence of ligament injuries than men. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of gender and functional fatigue on dynamic balance.
Thirty two non athletic healthy subjects (16 women and 16 men) aged between 18-35 year participated in this study. Star excursion balance test was performed pre and post functional fatigue at the posterolateral and posteromedial directions.
Main effect of fatigue was significant (F=37.62, P0.05). The Interaction of fatigue and directions of star excursion balance test was not significant (F=1.169, P>0.05).
Fatigue reduced the dynamic postural control in both gender. However, this reduction was not different between the groups. It seems that other factors rather than the effect of fatigue on postural control contribute to the difference in the risk of injury between men and women.