Does Regular Dancing Improve Static Balance?

The aim of the study was to compare the static balance of dancers and non-dancers in a bipedal and unipedal stance. Twenty-three female dancers (mean age: 21.3 +/- 1.7) and 24 age and sex-matched subjects (mean age 22.3 +/- 1.0) participated in this study. A force platform was used to assess balance. The tests on the balance platform were performed in several positions with different foot placement, such as normal standing (NS) eyes open and eyes closed positions, semi-tandem position (ST), tandem position (TP), and one-leg standing (1L) eyes open and eyes closed position. Significant differences in balance between the dancers and the control group, especially in the tandem position and one-leg standing position with eyes closed were found. We observed higher results for the velocity of the COP in the frontal plane in the TP with a dominant limb in front (p = 0.04) and higher results for the velocity of the COP in the frontal plane (p = 0.01) and in the sagittal plane (p < 0.01) in the TP with a dominant limb in front in the control group. We also observed significant differences between groups in the mean velocity of COP sway in the sagittal plane in the 1 L position with eyes closed (p = 0.04). We concluded that dancing regularly for several years improves static balance.