A comparison of the stability of standing shooting stance in expert and novice mountain infantry shooters

This study compares balance control in standing shooting stance in expert and novice military shooters among mountain infantry soldiers. Balance control was assessed using AccuSway (AMTI, USA) force platforms in terms of the range of the centre of pressure (COP) displacements in the mediolateral (RANGE(ML)) and anteroposterior direction (RANGE(AP)), the standard deviation of COP displacements in the mediolateral (SD(ML)) and anteroposterior direction (SD(AP)), the sway area of COP displacements (ELLIPSE), the average velocity of COP displacements (AVG VEL) and the COP path length (LENGTH). The participants (expert shooters, N=10; novice shooters, N=15) adopted tactical standing shooting stance wearing the field uniform, with a rifle on force platforms (one for each lower limb), over a period of 10 seconds, with sampling frequency of 100Hz. The statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney U test revealed a significant difference between the studied groups, taking into account the ELLIPSE and the AVG VEL variables values for the dominant leg only. It was concluded that the expert shooters showed better stability than novice shooters. This study presents implications regarding biomechanical aspects of standing shooting stance stability.