Postural adaptations specific to preferred throwing techniques practiced by competition-level judoists

The purpose of this study was to analyse the judoists’ postural regulation adopted to accommodate their favorite throwing technique (tokui-waza). The tokui-waza is a technique performed in bipodal or monopodal stance. Twenty three judoists aged between 16 and 20 took part in the protocol. All had a minimum regional sportive level. They were separated into two groups: the one performed a tokui-waza in bipodal stance (BS group) and the others performed a tokui-waza in monopodal stance (MS group). The medio/lateral and antero/posterior dynamic balance was evaluated on one-leg and two-leg support with a seesaw platform laid on a force platform. On two-leg support, the BS group judoists were more efficient than the MS group judoists. On the contrary, on one-leg support, the MS group was more efficient than the BS group. The different movements practiced on one or two-leg induce specific postural adaptations in competition-level judoists. Therefore, the present study shows that the different movements practiced in a given sport can induce particular postural adaptations. This phenomenon must therefore also be taken into account in the protocols used for evaluating postural control in sportsmen.