Evaluation of Changes in the Parameters of Body Stability in the Participants of a Nine-Day Snowboarding Course

Introduction. Snowboarding is a sports discipline in which postural control is key to achieving an effective technique. The body is positioned sideways on the snowboard, with only the head facing forward. This study evaluated the effect of several days of intense snowboarding on the parameters of static and dynamic body stability in persons with different levels of skill. Material and methods. A nine-day snowboarding course was designed and conducted with beginner (N = 16) and advanced snowboarders (N = 14) in the mountains in winter. Before and after the course, dynamic body stability was measured on a Biodex Balance System (USA) platform with an unstable surface, and static body stability was measured on a FreeMed Sensor Medica (Italy) stabilometric platform. Results. Measurements on an unstable surface showed significantly weaker (p < 0.01) values of body stability in a lateral stance in the snowboarding stance than in a forward stance and a significant (p < 0.05) improvement in performance after the course. On a stable surface, the improvement in performance (p < 0.05) occurred only among the beginners, in the snowboard basic position. Conclusions. The results confirm that snowboarding, or continuous unstable balance, improves postural control, which leads to the conclusion that the lateral stance on the snowboard is a clearly disruptive factor in natural postural control. This constitutes a considerable difficulty, especially for beginners, who in addition to learning new technical skills, must adapt to continuously shifting balance.