Gender Differences in Static and Dynamic Postural Stability of Soldiers in the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

Context: Postural stability is essential for injury prevention and performance. Differences between genders may affect training focus. Objective: To examine static and dynamic postural stability in male and female soldiers. Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Setting: Biomechanics laboratory. Participants: 25 healthy female soldiers (26.4 +/- 5.3 y) and 25 healthy male soldiers (26.4 +/- 4.9 y) matched on physical demand rating and years of service from the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Interventions: Each person underwent static and dynamic postural stability testing. Main Outcome Measures: Standard deviation of the ground reaction forces during static postural stability and the dynamic stability index for dynamic postural stability. Results: Female soldiers had significantly better static postural stability than males but no differences were observed in dynamic postural stability. Conclusions: Postural stability is important for injury prevention, performance optimization, and tactical training. The differences observed in the current study may indicate the need for gender-specific training emphasis on postural stability.