Özet:
Objectives: Childhood hearing impairment is a common chronic condition that may
have a major impact on postural control. The aim of this study was to determine the postural
control of the elite deaf football players and compare normal-hearing football players and
sedentary deaf controls. Eighteen deaf football players, ten deaf sedentary controls, ten
normal-hearing sedentary controls were included in study.
Methods: Postural stability was assessed both on bilateral stance and on single-limb
stance with Biodex-Balance System on static surface, in eyes-open condition. Limits of
stability testing were performed on bilateral stance.
Results: Statistically significant results were found in medial-lateral index (MLI)
score of dominant and non-dominant legs among three groups respectively (p=0.027,
p=0.045). In limits of stability testing significant differences were found for overall direction
(p=0.008) and right direction (p=0.017) among three groups. There was a significant
difference in MLI score of non-dominant leg (p=0.012) and in right direction of limits of
stability test (p=0.016) between deaf athletes and deaf controls. Also there were significant
differences found in MLI score of dominant legs (p=0.023) and overall (p<0.001) and right
(p=0.008) direction of limits of stability test between deaf controls and healthy controls
