The Effects of Sleep on an Athlete’s Average Timed-Tandem Gait Test
College
College of Health Sciences
Department
Rehabilitation Sciences
Graduate Level
Master’s
Graduate Program/Concentration
Athletic Training
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Background: Sleep plays an essential role in athletic performance and injury recovery. Research has demonstrated that less sleep may result in adverse effects such as weakened cardiorespiratory fitness and psychomotor skills. Evidence suggests that athletes who get less than 8 hours of sleep are more likely to sustain an injury. Sleep is also important for the body during recovery. The timed-tandem gait test assesses dynamic postural control and is part of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6 (SCAT 6). Athletes perform the time-tandem gait test for baseline concussion testing and following a suspected concussion.
Purpose: To evaluate the impact of athletes’ sleep habits on average timed-tandem gait performance.
Methods: Participants consisted of 368 athletes on Old Dominion University’s collegiate teams. This study was conducted during annual baseline concussion testing. Participants performed the timed-tandem gait test. The test consists of walking without shoes using an alternate heel-to-toe gait along a 3-meter strip of tape, going down and back as quickly as possible. Each participant performed 3 trials and the average time across all the trials was calculated. In addition, participants completed a 16-question Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) assessing sleep habits. Lower scores indicate better sleeping habits and higher scores indicate potentially severe sleep disorders. Based on performance, participants were grouped into four groups: normal (0-4), mild (5-7), moderate (8-10), and severe (11-17). Data was analyzed using a one-way between subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: Out of the 368 participants, 141 scored in the normal sleep group, 152 in the mild sleep group, 55 in the moderate sleep group, and 20 in the severe sleep group. No significant differences were found between sleep groups on the timed tandem gait performance (p = 0.459).
Conclusions: The results from this study demonstrate that an athlete’s sleeping habits are not directly related to how they score on the timed-tandem gait test. It can be concluded that athletes who have poor sleeping habits may still perform quicker than athletes with better sleeping habits.
Keywords
Sleep, Timed-tandem gait
The Effects of Sleep on an Athlete’s Average Timed-Tandem Gait Test
Background: Sleep plays an essential role in athletic performance and injury recovery. Research has demonstrated that less sleep may result in adverse effects such as weakened cardiorespiratory fitness and psychomotor skills. Evidence suggests that athletes who get less than 8 hours of sleep are more likely to sustain an injury. Sleep is also important for the body during recovery. The timed-tandem gait test assesses dynamic postural control and is part of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6 (SCAT 6). Athletes perform the time-tandem gait test for baseline concussion testing and following a suspected concussion.
Purpose: To evaluate the impact of athletes’ sleep habits on average timed-tandem gait performance.
Methods: Participants consisted of 368 athletes on Old Dominion University’s collegiate teams. This study was conducted during annual baseline concussion testing. Participants performed the timed-tandem gait test. The test consists of walking without shoes using an alternate heel-to-toe gait along a 3-meter strip of tape, going down and back as quickly as possible. Each participant performed 3 trials and the average time across all the trials was calculated. In addition, participants completed a 16-question Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) assessing sleep habits. Lower scores indicate better sleeping habits and higher scores indicate potentially severe sleep disorders. Based on performance, participants were grouped into four groups: normal (0-4), mild (5-7), moderate (8-10), and severe (11-17). Data was analyzed using a one-way between subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: Out of the 368 participants, 141 scored in the normal sleep group, 152 in the mild sleep group, 55 in the moderate sleep group, and 20 in the severe sleep group. No significant differences were found between sleep groups on the timed tandem gait performance (p = 0.459).
Conclusions: The results from this study demonstrate that an athlete’s sleeping habits are not directly related to how they score on the timed-tandem gait test. It can be concluded that athletes who have poor sleeping habits may still perform quicker than athletes with better sleeping habits.