Is karate effective in improving postural control?

Abstract

Background: Performing complex motor skills, such as the ones performed by karate athletes, requires a great sense of balance.Because the posturo-kinetic performance seems to be improved by sport practice, especially by sports involving alot of posturokinetic activities, the aim of this review was to critically analyse the scientific literature in order toappraise whether any positive correlation between karate and improved postural control is scientifically supported.<br/>Material/Methods: The online search engines Scirus and Medline were used for generating the data. A comprehensive literature searchwas conducted based on the following keywords: “karate”, “postural control” and “body sway”. Results were collectedand filtered manually.<br/>Results: Four articles were identified related to karate practice and postural control, covering a period between 1998 and2009. Although different experimental approaches were used to investigate this concept, overall the results of thesestudies confirm the effectiveness of karate in improving postural control.<br/>Conclusions: Practicing karate seems to elicit long term improvements in postural control. However, a much deeper approachto this fighting sport, which would take into account its technical specificities (e.g. kata & kumite), is required inorder to increase our understanding of the posture-kinetic impact of this relatively unexplored sport activity.