Context: Postural stability is essential for injury prevention and performance. Differences between genders may affect training focus.
Objective: To examine static and dynamic postural stability in male and female soldiers.
Design: Descriptive laboratory study.
Setting: Biomechanics laboratory.
Participants: 25 healthy female soldiers (26.4 ± 5.3 y) and 25 healthy male soldiers (26.4 ± 4.9 y) matched on physical demand rating and years of service from the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
Interventions: Each person underwent static and dynamic postural stability testing.
Main outcome measures: Standard deviation of the ground reaction forces during static postural stability and the dynamic stability index for dynamic postural stability.
Results: Female soldiers had significantly better static postural stability than males but no differences were observed in dynamic postural stability.
Conclusions: Postural stability is important for injury prevention, performance optimization, and tactical training. The differences observed in the current study may indicate the need for gender-specific training emphasis on postural stability.
Keywords: balance; injury prevention; military.