Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

Dynamic balance is linked to the score

2 studies · 48 archers measured

ForContextAgainst202420262026, for, n = 302026, against, n = 302026, context, n = 302024, for, n = 182024, context, n = 18
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

Two studies of archers find a link between dynamic balance and score, and both find it only in part. In eighteen recurve archers from a Turkish club, those who reach further with the leg on the Y-Balance Test score more at 50 metres (r 0.59 on the right and 0.67 on the left), but once leg length is taken into account the link stays significant only on the left, 0.54, while on the right it drops to 0.40 and does not hold; since the two legs give almost identical measurements, the gap between sides looks more like noise than a real difference, and part of the initial link is stature. In thirty professional compound archers followed through twelve weeks of BOSU work, those who improve their left-leg dynamic balance most also gain the most points (rho 0.51), while on the right the link is not significant; and in the same study, at the start, dynamic balance did not separate the more accurate archers from the rest. These are associations, taken once or within a single group with no control, on small samples and with many correlations computed: they say the two things tend to go together, not that training dynamic balance raises the score.

Also phrased as: "dynamic balance and accuracy"; "y balance test in archers"; "single-leg balance and score"; "proprioceptive training for archers"; "bosu and archery"

In practice

Archers' physical preparation increasingly includes balance exercises in motion, on one leg or on unstable surfaces, on the idea that a body that rebalances itself better also holds the shot better.

Evidence

  • 2024
    For Archers Published later

    18 recurve archers from a Turkish club, 9 women and 9 men aged 17.3 ± 11.4, with 3.4 ± 2.5 years of training, 18 arrows at 50 m outdoors with a clicker: reach distance on the Y-Balance Test is linked to the score for the right leg (r = 0.592, p = 0.010) and for the left (r = 0.670). When the distance is normalised to leg length the link remains on the left (r = 0.537, p = 0.022) and is no longer significant on the right (r = 0.402, p = 0.098), so part of the raw link is stature. The mean score is 39.89 ± 14.32 over 18 arrows, just over two points per arrow: a low-level sample with a very wide age range.

    Shooting performance in archery: a perspective of dynamic–static balance · İnci Kesilmiş, Fatma Söğüt, Ülkü Çömelekoğlu

  • 2024
    Context Archers Published later

    The same study, and why the difference between legs needs reading with care: the measurements of the two sides are almost the same thing (r = 0.943 between right and left on the Y-Balance), and mean reach is 69.57 ± 11.12 cm, about 81 per cent of limb length. With two measures so closely correlated, a correlation of 0.54 that crosses the threshold and one of 0.40 that does not, on 18 people, are not different enough to point to a side-specific effect. In the same sample the static single-leg test, by contrast, is not linked to the score.

    Shooting performance in archery: a perspective of dynamic–static balance · İnci Kesilmiş, Fatma Söğüt, Ülkü Çömelekoğlu

  • 2026
    For Archers Published later

    30 national-level professional compound archers, twelve weeks of BOSU balance work on top of their shooting, a single group: the score over 15 arrows at 18 m goes from 88.62 ± 12.09 to 104.60 ± 23.70, and those whose left-leg Y-Balance improves most also gain the most points (rho = 0.514, p corrected for multiple comparisons 0.021), while for the right leg the link is not significant (rho = 0.379, corrected p 0.109). It is a link between changes within the same archers, not between different archers, and without a control group neither the progress nor the link can be attributed to the programme.

    Associations between changes in postural control, shoulder proprioception, and shooting accuracy in professional compound archers · Sema Acaröz, Tuba Yerlikaya, Hüseyin Bilal Özkader, Yelda Kıngır Soykurt

  • 2026
    Against Archers Published later

    The same study, the exploratory analysis of baseline values: before the programme, balance, dynamic balance included, is not linked to the score, and after correction for multiple comparisons no correlation remains significant. The authors do not report the values, so this side of the study counts as weak contrary evidence: among archers of the same level, dynamic balance measured once does not pick out the more accurate ones.

    Associations between changes in postural control, shoulder proprioception, and shooting accuracy in professional compound archers · Sema Acaröz, Tuba Yerlikaya, Hüseyin Bilal Özkader, Yelda Kıngır Soykurt

  • 2026
    Context Archers Published later

    The same study, the values: on the Y-Balance normalised to limb length, the left leg starts at 63.46 ± 7.67 and the right at 55.50 ± 6.33, and by the end the right gains more, 10.31 ± 6.15 against 7.37 ± 5.77. It is precisely the leg that improves most whose progress is not linked to the score. Of the 30 archers 24 are right-handed and 6 left-handed, and the analysis does not separate them, so 'left' does not always correspond to the same role in the shooting stance.

    Associations between changes in postural control, shoulder proprioception, and shooting accuracy in professional compound archers · Sema Acaröz, Tuba Yerlikaya, Hüseyin Bilal Özkader, Yelda Kıngır Soykurt

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied No study of archers in the registry's bibliography had yet related a dynamic balance test to the score.
  2. 2024 Reported The first study of archers finds the link: in eighteen club recurve archers, those who reach further with the leg on the Y-Balance Test score more at 50 metres, with correlations between 0.59 and 0.67. Once leg length is taken into account the link weakens, 0.54 on the left and 0.40, not significant, on the right, a sign that part of the effect is stature. A single cross-sectional association, on a small, low-level sample: reported.
  3. 2026 Reported A second study points the same way by a different route: in thirty professional compound archers, after twelve weeks of BOSU work, progress in dynamic balance tracks progress in score, but only on the left leg, with rho 0.51, while on the right the link is not significant, and the right is precisely the leg that improves most. The same study adds weak contrary evidence: at the start, balance did not pick out the more accurate archers, though the values are not reported. Two concordant associations, each on one leg only, and a null result without figures: reported.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

See the full assessment
Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Dynamic balance is linked to the score (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/dynamic-balance-and-score

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_equilibriodinamicopunteggio,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Dynamic balance is linked to the score},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/dynamic-balance-and-score},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on physical training