Background and purpose: The importance of lower extremity strength, proprioception and reaction time have been identified to tennis performance. However, the role of balance ability during movement for tennis activity has not yet been studied. The purpose of the present study as to investigate the importance of balance control during rhythmic eight shift and forward lunge in addition to muscle strength, proprioception and reaction time for tennis. Methods: Eight tennis players in college team and nine college students participated in the study. The time for shuttle run vas used as index for tennis ability. The reaction time, strength of quadriceps and biceps femoris, knee proprioception ere measured and compared between the to groups. The on-axis velocity and directional control during rhythmic eight shift and impact force and contact time during the for and lunge test ere measured by Balance Master System. Results: Students in the tennis team demonstrated less time for shuttle run than the college students (25.8±0.9 sec vs. 28.2±1.3 sec, p<0.01). They also demonstrated shorter reaction time (p<0.01), greater quadriceps strength (p<0.01) and better knee proprioception especially in the dominant leg (p<0.05). The less impact force (p<0.01) and contact time (p<0.05) were noted in the tennis players during the forward lunge movement. Also the left-right directional control vas better (p<0.01) in the tennis group compared with the college student group. There vas moderately high correlation between the reaction time and time for shuttle run (r=0.783, p<0.01l). The impact force during the dominant leg forward lunge vas also correlated with the time for shuttle run moderately (r=0.684, p<0.01). Conclusions: Our results indicated that reaction time, quadriceps muscle strength, weight transfer ability and balance ability played important roles for tennis performance. Training for these and provide feedback quantitatively may improve the tennis performance.
Background and purpose: The importance of lower extremity strength, proprioception and reaction time have been identified to tennis performance. However, the role of balance ability during movement for tennis activity has not yet been studied. The purpose of the present study as to investigate the importance of balance control during rhythmic eight shift and forward lunge in addition to muscle strength, proprioception and reaction time for tennis. Methods: Eight tennis players in college team and nine college students participated in the study. The time for shuttle run vas used as index for tennis ability. The reaction time, strength of quadriceps and biceps femoris, knee proprioception ere measured and compared between the to groups. The on-axis velocity and directional control during rhythmic eight shift and impact force and contact time during the for and lunge test ere measured by Balance Master System. Results: Students in the tennis team demonstrated less time for shuttle run than the college students (25.8±0.9 sec vs. 28.2±1.3 sec, p<0.01). They also demonstrated shorter reaction time (p<0.01), greater quadriceps strength (p<0.01) and better knee proprioception especially in the dominant leg (p<0.05). The less impact force (p<0.01) and contact time (p<0.05) were noted in the tennis players during the forward lunge movement. Also the left-right directional control vas better (p<0.01) in the tennis group compared with the college student group. There vas moderately high correlation between the reaction time and time for shuttle run (r=0.783, p<0.01l). The impact force during the dominant leg forward lunge vas also correlated with the time for shuttle run moderately (r=0.684, p<0.01). Conclusions: Our results indicated that reaction time, quadriceps muscle strength, weight transfer ability and balance ability played important roles for tennis performance. Training for these and provide feedback quantitatively may improve the tennis performance.