MIND–BODY CONNECTION: BALANCE PERFORMANCE AND ATTENTIONAL FOCUS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Purpose: Individuals with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are known to have deficits in body balance, particularly when cognitive and attentional demands for postural control are increased1. Notably, there is a paucity of evidence regarding the effects of attentional focus in this population2. Therefore, we investigated the impact of different attentional focus strategies on static balance performance in individuals with IDs while they stood quietly on both firm and mobile surfaces. Methods: Participants (n = 14 males; 28.4 ± 5.5 years, 26.3 ± 7.1 kg/m2) performed a 30-s static balance assessment with, eyes closed in bipodal stance, under three conditions: no focus (NF, based on common instructions), internal focus (IF, based on ankle and foot perceptions), external focus (EF, based on metaphors such as ‘‘stay stiff as if you were a statue or a stone’’). The Microgate GYKO inertial sensor system measured the center of pressure convex hull area (mm2), length (mm), and mean velocity (mm/s). Results: Compared to NF and IF, the EF strategy showed a better balance on convex hull area (p = 0.017) when standing on the firm surface, and a better stability on convex hull area (p = 0.030), length (p = 0.024) and mean velocity (p = 0.022) when standing on the mobile surface. Conclusions: Our results highlight the beneficial effects of external focus (EF) in individuals with IDs. These findings may assist practitioners and coaches in selecting the most appropriate attentional focus instructions during balance training, thereby potentially enhancing the effectiveness of interventions targeting postural control.