Comparative analysis of balance performance in competitive handball players with open data set

Maintaining balance and posture after moving our body for an action is the result of a complex communication between the motor and sensory systems (Ghez and Krakauer, 2000). To perform any activity, it is necessary to maintain postural control to change direction and then stabilize the body. Postural control is defined as controlling the position of the body in space for two purposes: stability and orientation (Gürsoy, 2019). Postural orientation is defined as active control of body alignment with respect to gravity, support surface, visual environment, and internal references (Horak, 2006). The vestibular system is responsible for the relationship with gravity. The somatosensory system is responsible for the relationship between different body parts. The visual system controls the body's relationship with the environment. Postural stability is often used interchangeably with the concept of balance. Balance can be defined as the control of the center of mass (Center of Mass, COM) over the base of support (BOS). One of the most commonly used signals to measure body balance in humans; is the displacement of the center of pressure (Center of Pressure - COP). COP is the application point of the vertical ground reaction force vector and represents the weighted average of all the forces on it (Montesinos et al, 2018). COP displacement is measured with the force platform. It is presented in relation to the participant's oscillations in the anterior-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) directions at certain time periods (Santos​ and Duarte, 2016). There are many studies about COP displacement in the literature. In a study conducted in 2016 (Santos and Duarte, 2016); 163 participants (116 women, 47 men), On rigid and unstable surface, for 60 seconds, Measurements were taken 3 times with eyes open and eyes closed, and the data set was made public. In this study, the balance performance data of sedentary individuals in the public data set will be read, filtered and analyzed by algorithms to be written in Python programming language. The obtained output will be compared and interpreted with the balance performances of the handball players. The aim of the study is (1) to examine the standing postural balance data of handball players (COP-AP and COP-ML) and compare them with the data of sedentary individuals, (2) to examine how the balance performance of handball players is affected in different postural balance measurement tests (eyes open, eyes closed), and (3) to create a public open source by making data analysis of sedentary individuals over a ready-made data set with Python programming language.