Postural Stability in Healthy Child and Youth Athletes: The Effect of Age, Sex, and Concussion-Related Factors on Performance

Background:Postural stability plays a key role in sport performance, especially after concussion. Specific to healthy child and youth athletes, little is known about the influence development and sex may have on postural stability while considering other subjective clinical measures used in baseline/preinjury concussion assessment. This study aims to describe age- and sex-based trends in postural stability in uninjured child and youth athletes at baseline while accounting for concussion-related factors.Hypotheses:(1) Postural stability performance will improve with age, (2) females will display better postural stability compared to males, and (3) concussion-like symptoms will affect postural stability performance in healthy children and youth.Study Design:Cross-sectional study.Level of Evidence:Level 3.Methods:This study comprised 889 healthy/uninjured child and youth athletes (54% female, 46% male) between the ages of 9 and 18 years old. Participants completed preseason baseline testing, which included d...