The effect of core strength training on flexibility and balance in sedentary healthy young individuals

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study is to examine the effect of core strength training on the static and dynamic balance and flexibility of the sedentary young individuals. Material and methods: ‪‪41 healthy sedentary students participated in the study (age=21.56±1.05; height=171.90±8.18 cm; body weight=66.63±11.99 kg). Training was applied for 20–30 minutes a day, 2 days a week for 6 weeks. The sit-and-reach test, lateral bending test, hip flexion flexibility test, and the static and dynamic balance scores were used for outcome measures, which were calculated using the Balance System SD (Korebalance Premier-19 Systems Inc. USA). Results: Statistically significant increases were observed in the flexibility tests and dynamic balance parameters between before and after training (p<0.05). In static balance, there was no significant difference between the preliminary and final values. Conclusions: ‪6-week training was effective in increasing dynamic balance and flexibility, but had no effect on static balance. In the light of this information, we think that training should be a part of life, especially when considering functions that require dynamic balance such as walking in sedentary young individuals. We think that this study is important in terms of preventing injuries of young individuals who do/will do sports recreationally.

Keywords

• core strength training
• students
• dynamic balance
• static balance
• flexibility