Relationship between somatotype and static, semi-dynamic and dynamic postural control in adolescent, young and middle-aged women

Objective: Somatotype is a method to describe the human physique which can influence postural control. The aim of this study was the relationship between somatotype and static, semi-dynamic and dynamic postural control. Methods: 140 females 12-50-year-old(26.45±10.94) participated in this study who had no skeletal, vestibular and neurological abnormalities and no trauma or pain in lower extremities. Anthropometric characteristics related to body type were measured and then the subjects categorized in three groups of ectomorph(n=46), mesomorph(n=45) and endomorph(n=49) based on the Heath-Carter method. The normalized star test(Y Balance Test) was used to assessment dynamic postural control and to measure the semi-static and dynamic postural control BESS was performed. Descriptive statistics was used to calculate the mean and standard deviation of age, height, weight and number of errors in BESS and to determine the relationship between morphologic somatotype and static, semi-dynamic and dynamic postural control K-square in a significant P ≤0/05 was used. Results: Findings showed that mesomorph cases were better than ectomorph and endomorph groups in static and semi-dynamic postural control. But ectomorph group showed the most accessibility in each direction of Y test rather than the other groups.   Conclusion: Static and semi-dynamic postural control is associated with a dominant mesomorphic component. Key words: Somatotype, Static Postural Control, Semi-dynamic Postural Control, Dynamic postural control