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JEPonline



Effects of Ballet Training on Proprioception, Balance, and Rhythmic
Synchronization of Young Children

Dimitris Chatzopoulos

School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Aristotle University
Thessaloniki, Greece


ABSTRACT


Chatzopoulos D. T Effects of Ballet Training on Proprioception, Balance,
and Rhythmic Synchronization of Young Children. JEPonline 2019;22(2):26-37.
Proprioception, balance, and rhythm are crucial factors for children's
motor development and the reduction of fall-related injuries. The purpose
of this study was to evaluate the effects of ballet training on these
abilities in 7-yr old girls. The Treatment Group consisted of 21 girls who
took part in a 3- month ballet training that consisted of 45 min.session-1,
2 times.wk-1, while the Control Group (18 girls) participated in regular
physical education classes. Prior to and after the intervention, the
subjects were assessed for proprioception (Angle Reproduction Test),
balancing on one foot, and rhythmic synchronization at 120 and 80 beats.min-
1. The findings indicate that the Treatment Group did significantly better
on proprioception, peak-to-peak amplitude of center of pressure (CoP) in
the mediolateral direction, and rhythmic synchronization at 80 beats.min-1.
It may be concluded that ballet constitutes an effective activity for the
development of young children's proprioception, balance, and rhythmic
synchronization.

Key Words: Kinesthesis, Postural Control, Sensorimotor Synchronization
INTRODUCTION

Proprioception is defined as the sense of limb position and movement in
space. It is essential for the successful execution of daily activities and
injury prevention (9). A number of studies demonstrated that proprioception
of adolescents and adult athletes can be improved with training programs
where the main components are balance, agility, and strength training (8).
However, these programs are unattractive to young children as they include
repetitions of boring and heavily structured exercises. As a consequence,
young children do not participate in them with the required enthusiasm
(29).

Ballet is an enjoyable activity which maintains the interest of young
children, and especially of young girls, for a regular participation in
dance classes (20). Furthermore, the performance of aesthetic ballet steps
depends heavily on the sense of body position and movement (1). One may
infer that ballet is an enjoyable activity promoting proprioception and,
indeed, a number of studies have reported that professional dancers show
better proprioception than non-dancers (12,15,18,23). However, these cross
sectional studies report only differences between dancers and non-dancers
and do not examine a cause and effect link. That is, the better
proprioception of dancers could have been inherently determined and the
result of the selection process by experienced instructors.

A sensitive (or critical) period is a phase in development when speci?c
training produces long lasting changes in brain structure and motor
performance (16). A number of studies demonstrated that proprioception
improves dramatically between the ages of 5 and 8 yrs with only minor
improvements occurring during adolescence and adulthood (6). Since the
sensitive period of proprioception seems to be between 5 and 8 yrs of age,
the examination of ballet training effects on proprioception would be
suitable to be conducted in a sample of corresponding ages. Therefore, the
first aim of the present study was to examine the effects of ballet
training on the proprioception of young children.

The content of traditional balance training includes strength and balance
exercises with specific a number of sets and durations (7). However,
although traditional balance training is beneficial in adolescents and
adults (21), it does not have the same potential to promote postural
control in young children (7). Granacher et al. (7), attributed their no
significant results to the lack of children's motivation in executing
highly structured exercises. Unlike adults, young children are not willing
to participate in corresponding training settings since they find them
boring (28).

Every position and step in ballet requires postural control (e.g., dancing
on the balls of the feet), ballet training could be an alternative way to
improve balance. The uniqueness of ballet training compared to traditional
balance training is that it offers children the opportunity to express
themselves by moving in synchrony to the music, which is very appealing to
them (19). Furthermore, contemporary ballet training uses creative teaching
methods and gives emphasis on quality of movement and not on the number of
repetitions that further increases the motivation of young children (31).
Thus, the examination of ballet training effects on children's balance was
the second purpose of the present study.

Rhythmic synchronization refers to the coordination of movement to music.
It is an integral part of ballet. A number of studies have reported that
professional ballet dancers demonstrate better rhythm than untrained
controls (13,30). These studies are similar to respective studies with
proprioception in that they do not measure the effects of ballet on rhythm,
as differences may be merely due to selection processes and inherently
determined.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of ballet
training on novice young girls' proprioception, balance, and rhythm. These
abilities are crucial factors for the execution of daily activities and
injury prevention (8) and, consequently, it is important to find age
appropriate approaches to improve them.


METHODS


Subjects
The subjects of this study were 39 girls who came from two primary schools.
One school was randomly assigned to either the Treatment (or intervention)
Group or the Control Group. The Treatment Group consisted of 21 girls (age
6.95 ± .60 yrs, body mass 26.08 ± 4.42 kg, and height 123.75 ± 5.43 cm).
The Control Group consisted of 18 girls (age 6.94 ±. 41 yrs, body mass
25.91 ± 4.38 kg, and height 124.47 ± 7.31 cm).

The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the
local University and all procedures followed the latest version of the
declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from the guardians
of the subjects, and they could withdraw from the study at any time. The
subjects were free of acute musculoskeletal injuries, did not have any
previous dance or sport training, and had no diagnosed learning
disabilities.

Procedures
The Treatment Group was taught by a physical education (PE) teacher who was
also a certified ballet instructor. The subjects in the Control Group were
taught by their regular PE teacher. The Treatment Group followed a 3-month
ballet course that consisted of 45 min.session-1, 2 times.wk-1. The
structure of the ballet lessons was based on the format of a classical
ballet class as follows (14):

. Warm-up (included aerobic activity games and stretching).
. Barre exercises.
. Center exercises, which included: (a) Adagio (slow movements), (b)
Pirouettes ("spin", turning around on the balls of one feet), and (c)
Petit sautés (small jumps) and petit allegro (fast movements, jumps).
. En diagonal (movements in a diagonal direction).
. Cool-down.

The ballet techniques taught in the Treatment Group were:

. Relevé: ?alance on the balls of the feet.
. Plies: Knees bend and straighten. Demi-plié (half bend) and grand plié
(deep bend).
. Battements: Extension of the leg to the front, back or side. Tendu, jete,
frappe, fondu, grand battement (large) and petit battement (small).
. Ront de jambe: One leg makes circular movements while connected to the
ground.
. Grand rond de jambe: One leg makes circular movements without contact to
the ground.
. Soutee: Jumps into the air.

Pirouette is when the subjects pick up one leg and spins, while on the
forward ball of one foot. In order to increase the children's motivation,
different levels of dif?culty were provided for each exercise. The subjects
were also allowed to make their own choices on how to manage a given task.
In addition, emphasis was given on personal improvement and positive
instructional feedback was provided. The subjects of the Control Group
attended their regular PE lessons during the 12-wk intervention period and
were taught fundamental movement skills.

Proprioception Measurement
The Angle Reproduction Test has been shown to be a valid and reliable
measurement of joint position sense (5). The apparatus includes a platform
placed on the floor and a paddle that can rotate in either direction like
the hand of a clock (Figure 1). The subject lies on the side, the lateral
epicondyle of the femur is positioned in the rotatory axis of the paddle,
and the limb is fixed with straps. With this arrangement, visual control of
the leg on the paddle is eliminated. The axis of an electro-goniometer was
placed on the rotation point of the paddle (0.02° accuracy,
www.vernier.com). The angle was visualized on a monitor as a numerical
angle (in degrees) and recorded with a sampling frequency of 100 Hz.

[pic]
Figure. 1. The Proprioception Test. The person is a model who did not
participate in the study.

The measurements were performed towards knee-flexion and extension from two
starting positions: 30° (knee-flexion) and 60° (knee-extension). In the
knee-flexion measurement, the starting position of th