Agility performance of ipsilateral and contralateral direction of table tennis players and sedentary subjects of different ages

Abstract

In the study, agility time of ipsilateral and contralateral direction of table tennis players and sedentary subjects of different ages were compared. Forty-nine young, early middle-aged, late middle-aged and older table tennis players and forty-six sedentary subjects of matched age performed the agility test. FiTRO Agility check consisting of movement reactions to visual stimuli to the ipsilateral and contralateral direction was used. The independent samples t-test revealed a significantly lower agility time to the ipsilateral than contralateral direction in both groups in almost all categories. However, the differences between directions in agility time (delta AT) were not significant among any of the age-matched categories. Nevertheless, small effect sizes indicate that playing table tennis contributes to smaller delta AT with increasing age. This effect was mainly observed between players and sedentary subjects of late middle (22.0%) and older age (23.4%). In addition, delta AT between late middle-aged and older subjects showed a tendency of midline-crossing inhibition compared with the ipsilateral direction in older age in both groups. Table tennis can be recommended particularly for subjects over 45 years to reduce differences in agility time between the ipsilateral and contralateral direction and to restrict the development of midline-crossing inhibition in older age.

Keywords: Ageing; Agility test; Bilateral coordination; Midline-crossing inhibition.