Better Functioning of the somatosensory system in Postural Control of Blind Athletes Compared to Non-Athletes

The somatosensory system is one of the most important sensory sources involved in postural control. The purpose of the present study was to compare function of the somatosensory system in postural control of blind athletes compared to blind and the sighted non-athletes.

A total of 30 men were purposefully selected and categorized into three groups of blind athletes of Goalball B1 class (n=10), absolute blind non-athletes (n=10), and the sighted non-athletes (n=10). In vitro, body sensory information was predominant in posture control, and then participant's performance of the posture control system was evaluated based on the center of gravity displacement in the internal-external, anterior-posterior direction, and total using the balance measurement instrument Biodex. The comparison of variables among the groups was done using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests at a significance level of P

The results of Kruskal Wallis test indicated that when the visual information is removed and the head is in the hyperactivity state, the differences in the center of gravity displacement in the internal-external direction (PML=0.006) and total (PTotal=0.041) among the three groups of the blind athletes, the blind non-athletes, and the sighted non-athletes were observed to be significant. According to the results of Uhnu-Whitney test, the center of gravity displacement in the internal-external direction and total in the blind athletes group was significantly less than that of the two blind non- athletes (PML=0.011, PTotal=0.049) and the sighted non-athletes (PML=0.003, PTotal=0.025) groups.

In situations where the somatosensory system data is predominant, the postural control of Goalball's athletes was better than that of the blind non-athletes and even the sighted non-athletes. It seems that the activities of sport or the nature of the Goalball are effective in improving the somatosensory and postural control.