The purpose of this study was to determine the state of the art in the area of virtual reality in competitive athletes of different levels of expertise in various disciplines and point the areas of its application. Articles published before August 2018 were considered in our review. The PubMed, SCOPUS, SportDiscus and Medline databases were searched. A combination of the following search terms was used: virtual reality, virtual environment, virtual system, athletes, sports, physical training, sport performance, physical exercises. Studies involved healthy competitive athletes. A total of 18 articles met the inclusion criteria. There were three areas of application of virtual reality to sport: performance analysis, simulation improvement and virtual training. Competitive athletes were mostly examined in a semi‐immersive setting. In conclusion, virtual reality seems to play a marginal role in competitive athletes’ training. Due to the fact that virtual reality interventions bring significant improvements in clinical research, well‐designed randomized control trials with detailed virtual training programmes are required in the future. Practically, virtual reality is effectively and commonly used to analyse performance in competitive athletes. There is still a need of creating fully interactive VR, where athletes will be able to cooperate with a virtual partner and influence the environment.

Our aim was to observe, through objective testing using an assessment module incorporated in a new exergaming system, whether elderly people’s static and functional balance is improved by a balance exergaming training program based on movements performed in everyday life. Thirteen healthy elderly women participated in 12 sessions of balance-based exergaming training (three times a week, 30 min per session). All objective outcomes, the quiet standing test, functional balance test (FBT), and limit of stability (LOS) test, were measured on three occasions: before intervention, after six training sessions, and after the completion of the four-week program. The results showed a significant improvement in LOS performance after the intervention. In FBT, participants exhibited a significant decrease (p < 0.01; Kendall’s W = 0.5) in the average time to target hit after six trainings. The average center of pressure velocity increased after six and 12 sessions, however did not reach significance (p = 0.053); nevertheless the size of the effect was large (η_p2 = 0.22). The parameters of the quiet standing test were not significantly affected by the training. The results support the need for more definite and objective studies assessing exergaming for balance in elderly.

The present study investigated whether expertise in fencing influences the onset of postural preparation during the fencing lunge and how it changes under different performance conditions. We also questioned if the onset of feedforward control can be categorized into one of the postural phases: anticipatory or early postural adjustment. Eight elite fencers and nine physical education students performed an attack with a lunge in self-paced and reaction time conditions from three different initial stance widths. The onset of the center of pressure (COP) displacement and EMG activities for the tibialis anterior (TA) of both limbs were recorded. The results show that expertise in fencing delays the onset of the activity of TA of the front leg and the onset of COP displacement during fencing lunge performance in comparison to controls. Additionally, in contrast to the control group, fencers produce typical APA patterns in the activation of TA under different performance conditions, delayed reaction time in comparison to self-initiated lunging, and constant time of APA onset under different widths of stance. According to different times and functions of TA activity and COP displacement in lunging, we propose to address them as anticipatory postural adjustment and early postural adjustment, respectively.

Background: Due to the high postural control demands of sport ju-jitsu, it is likely that long-term sport ju-jitsu training may induce sport-specific adaptations in postural control, especially in positions directly related to combat. The aim of the study was to assess the differences in postural control between elite sport ju-jitsu athletes and untrained controls in non-ecological and ecological conditions and to investigate the relative contribution of spinal and supraspinal mechanisms to postural control in expert athletes. Methods: The study was conducted on eleven male elite ju-jitsu athletes and ten non-athletes. The data was collected with the use of a force plate under two conditions: quiet standing and ju-jitsu combat stance. Apart from the standard analysis of the spatial–temporal parameters of center of foot pressure, non-linear measures were used, namely rambling-trembling and sample entropy. The non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare both groups. Results: The main findings of the study showed that in quiet standing, elite ju-jitsu athletes and non-athletes had comparable postural control in both the anterior–posterior and mediolateral planes. In contrast, in the combat stance, elite athletes had lower values of postural sway and rambling component (range and rms) and higher values of sample entropy in comparison to the non-athletes (p < 0.05). No differences were found in the trembling component of sway between groups in the combat stance (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Smaller postural sway and its rambling component in sport ju-jitsu athletes may indicate the more precise control of center of foot pressure and improved ability in estimating its position. The sample entropy results confirmed that the displacement of center of foot pressure for sport ju-jitsu athletes was more irregular, which demonstrates greater automatization in postural control. The results also confirm the importance of ecological validity in investigating postural adaptations associated with sports expertise.

Background: Hand function is critical for daily living, occupational performance, and sports. Optimal training approaches for healthy adults remain unclear. Objective: To evaluate the effects of hand-focused strength and proprioceptive training on grip strength, pinch strength, manual dexterity, maximum voluntary contraction, joint position sense, and force sense in healthy younger and older adults. Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, Web of Science, Cochrane CENTRAL and registers were searched until July 2025 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving adults (≥18 years) without upper limb dysfunction. Studies with clinical populations, single-session interventions, or lacking pre–post outcome data were excluded. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool. Random-effects meta-analyses (Hedges’ g) pooled pre–post change score differences for each outcome; subgroup analyses examined age, training type, and comparator. Results: Twenty-two RCTs (n = 1017 participants; 19–78 years) met the inclusion criteria. Strength and proprioceptive training produced a small-to-moderate improvement in grip strength (g = 0.44, 95% CI [0.23–0.64], 95%PI [–0.09, 0.96]) and a large improvement in manual dexterity (g = 1.11, 95% CI [0.52–1.71], 95%PI [–0.01, 2.23]). Effects on pinch strength were positive but non-significant (g = 0.63, 95% CI [–0.09–1.35], 95%PI [–1.38, 2.63]) and showed substantial heterogeneity. Moderator analyses indicated greater effects in older adults (g = 0.97) compared to younger adults (g = 0.18). Strength-only protocols showed significant effects, while combined protocols yielded smaller, non-significant effects; however, the difference between them was not statistically significant. Effects were also larger when compared with passive controls than with untrained hands. Limitations: Evidence quality was limited by high risk of bias, measurement variability, and small study numbers for some outcomes. Conclusions: Strength-focused hand training, particularly in older adults, yields meaningful improvements in grip strength and dexterity. Further high-quality RCTs are needed for under-studied outcomes.

The aim of this study was to examine whether target width and target distance influence the planning phase of a fencing lunge (early and anticipatory postural adjustments) as well as the execution phase of a fencing lunge. Eight elite female fencers participated in the study. The displacement of the center of foot pressure, muscle activity of the tibialis anterior, and kinematics of center of mass were recorded using force plates. The results show that target width and distance have no effect on early and anticipatory postural adjustments as well as the acceleration and velocity of the center of mass at the moment of foot-off. However, a greater target distance was associated with a greater max center of mass acceleration and velocity, and larger target width resulted in a greater max center of mass acceleration during lunging (p < 0.05). We suppose that the effect of task parameters on preparing a fencing lunge may be mitigated due to the specific technique adopted by expert fencers and the ballistic nature of a fencing lunge.