postural control, body sway, anaerobic fatigue, cyclists, sport-specific exercise, Technology, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), TA1-2040, Biology (General), QH301-705.5, Physics, QC1-999, Chemistry, QD1-999

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether and how anaerobic fatigue induced by sport-specific exercise affects the postural control of highly-trained adolescent road cyclists. Twenty-three male athletes, aged 15–18 years, were included in the study. Postural control was assessed using the pedobarographic platform (bipedal upright stance, sequentially, with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC) for 60 s each, with a 30 s interval), before and 3 min after a 30 s all-out effort performed on the ergometer. The results showed significant increases in the 95%-confidence ellipse area (p-value 0.000 and 0.001 for EO and EC, respectively), as well as centre-of-pressure (CoP) range displacement in the anteroposterior (p-value 0.000 for both EO and EC) and mediolateral (p-value 0.011 and 0.001 for EO and EC, respectively) planes. In addition, a significant decrease in CoP mean sway frequency was observed (p-value 0.000 and 0.001 for EO and EC, respectively), but no changes were noted in CoP mean velocity (p-value 0.316 and 0.670 for EO and EC, respectively). In our study, it has been indicated that anaerobic fatigue induced by sport-specific exercise deteriorates postural control in adolescent cyclists. Moreover, cycling training may affect the quality of postural corrective reactions occurring in response to anaerobic fatigue.