Paul Franzese

Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology

First Advisor

Kevin Dames, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Sutton Richmond, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Peter McGinnis, Ph.D.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify any differences in time to boundary (TTB) among collegiate baseball players and a control group during quiet standing. Participants were 64 apparently healthy men, including 23 position players, 22 pitchers, and 19 control subjects. Testing consisted of two, individually randomized 3-minute quiet standing trials on a force plate, one with eyes open, and one with eyes closed. Average time to boundary values in anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions were calculated and a series of 2x3 (vision, group) repeated measures ANOVA were performed. Results include a difference in TTB in all groups between the eyes open and eyes closed conditions for both AP (F1,61=293.182, p <.001) and ML (F1,61=120.501, p<.001). There was a difference in TTB between the position players and the control group, (t = -2.749, ptukey= 0.021), and a difference in TTB between the position players and the pitchers, (t= 3.001, ptukey= 0.011), when looking at the Romberg ratio for the AP TTB data. The major conclusion drawn from these data is that balance is negatively affected by the absence of vision. Additionally, it appears that the members of the control group and the pitchers relied more on vison to balance than the position players as evidenced by their lower Romberg quotients compared to the position players. Implications regarding baseball may be that players who hit rely more on proprioception to balance, and vision is used primarily to aid bat to ball contact. However, vision aids pitchers more in their ability to balance, illustrating that pitchers need to keep their eye on their target to deliver an effective pitch.

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