Neural Correlates of Balance Skill Learning in Young and Older Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Sports Medicine - Open

Table 2 Overall and subgroup analyses for the effects of balance training on neural adaptations

Variable	Effect size		95% CI			Heterogeneity		Frequencies
Variable	g	SE	LL	UL	p	I²	Tau²	k	N_s	N_p
All	0.79	0.23	0.31	1.28	0.003	82	0.80	62	17	508
Population
Healthy young	0.74	0.27	0.11	1.38	0.028	78	0.64	41	8	216
Healthy older	0.83	0.38	− 0.03	1.70	0.057	86	1.05	21	9	292
Training duration
Acute	0.34	0.00	0.344	0.34	0.000	77	0.00	10	1	24
Chronic	0.82	0.24	0.304	1.34	0.004	83	0.00	52	16	484
Neural adaptation outcome measure
Spinal	0.66	0.42	− 0.37	1.69	0.167	86	1.15	15	7	191
Corticospinal	0.38	0.22	− 0.18	0.94	0.138	56	0.25	33	6	149
Structural brain	− 0.09	0.24	− 3.11	2.93	0.773	0	0.00	5	2	63
Neurochemical	1.71	0.48	0.19	3.22	0.037	79	0.69	5	4	158

Bold-highlighted sections indicate unreliable subgroup analyses due to a low number of studies
g Effect size, SE Standard error of the effect size, CI, LL, UL 95% Confidence interval of the effect size and its lower and upper limit, p Probability, I² Proportion of total variability due to between-study heterogeneity, Tau² Between-study variance, k Number of outcomes, N_s Number of studies, N_p Number of participants