swordsmanship can be traced back to ancient civilizations , and the inclusion of fencing in 
 the first modern olympic games ( athens 1896 ) secured its status as a major sport1 . in a fencing match , it is important to move 
 swiftly and score while avoiding the opponents attack and guard2 .
therefore , fencers need to improve and maintain the speed 
 of their moves , and do so through highly intensive training3 , 4 . in a recent survey about fencing injuries
, 92.8% of elite and advanced fencing athletes 
 indicated that they experienced injuries and pain5 .
the most injured location was the lower limb , and most athletes 
 indicated that they had had a ligament sprain or muscle strain6 .
injuries like these 
 can be concluded as resulting from the dynamic and repetitive movements required in fencing 
 matches , during which fencers move at high speeds2 , 
 8 . upon observance of a fencing match , 

it is easy to understand that the most used motion in attack is the lunge motion .
the 
 repetition of highly intensive and dynamic lunge motions during a fencing match can be an 
 underlying cause of injury to the neuromuscular system due to impact from the ground .
there 
 were also many accounts of imbalanced movements that were combined with great power9 .
when looking at the actions of the muscles 
 around the knee during the fencing lunge , it can be observed that the forward knee extensor 
 muscles will go through eccentric contraction action while the posterior muscles go through 
 more powerful concentric contraction to slow down the body10 .
this type of lunge motion , which occurs frequently during fencing 
 matches and practices , is a cause of imbalanced upper and lower limbs11 .
therefore , a special program that focuses primarily on 
 solving muscle imbalance is needed to prevent injuries in elite fencers .
this research 
 focuses on improving this imbalance of national fencing athletes through the use of specific 
 muscle imbalance improvement training and observing the changes in maintenance of balance . 

it was hypothesized that ( a ) the training program would change the biomechanical 
 characteristics and ( b ) it would change the balance scale score .
the participants in this research were 9 right - handed male national team fencers ( 4 epee , 5 
 sabre ; age 28.2  2.2  years ; height 182.3  4.0  cm ; weight 76.5  8.2  kg ; experience 12.4  
 3.0  years ) and one participant withdrew from the program due to injury .
participant was 
 excluded immediately from experiments and exercises if they experienced symptoms of injuries 
 or major loss of physical stamina . before the start of the measurements ,
the participants 
 were given a full explanation of the research purpose and experimental procedure , and they 
 signed institutional review board consent forms to comply with the ethical principles of the 
 declaration of helsinki ( 1975 , revised 1983 ) . before the participants arrived at the lab , the researchers placed and calibrated 12 
 infrared cameras ( motion analysis corporation , santa rosa , ca , usa ) and 2 ground reaction 
 force plates ( type9287ba , kistler instruments ag , winterthur , switzerland ) .
a sampling rate of 200  hz was used for the 
 infrared cameras and the ground reaction force was set at 1,000  hz . to prevent injuries ,
warming up and stretching were performed 30 minutes before each pre 
 and post measurements by the subjects .
then , reflective markers were attached to the major 
 joints and segments of the subjects .
they performed right and left one leg stands ( rols and 
 lols , respectively ) for a minute each , deep squats ( ds ) and a balance scale test ( bs ) .
all 
 motions were executed 3 times . after performing pre - tests , specific muscle imbalance 
 improvement training ( smiit )
program was applied , this included static , active and passive 
 stretching , pilates , core muscle strengthening , and lower limb strengthening .
post - test was 
 conducted on subjects after participating in 2012 london olympics with the same process and 
 in the same environment . in order to improve the flexibility component ,
the smiit program included joint rolling to 
 increase the range of joint movement and moving according to a beat .
the difficulty level 
 was adjusted through the speed of the beat for each athlete .
the muscle balance component of 
 the smiit program included activities divided into exercises performed in a weight room and 
 exercises that could be done anywhere such as during a match or training . in order to avoid 
 muscular imbalance ,
when 
 necessary , the weights were lightened and repetition was increased from 10 to 15 times .
the 
 details of the smiit program are shown in table 
 1table 1.12-week specific muscle imbalance improvement training programexercise typeexercise contentexercise itemsflexibility training- increase of joint range through muscle isolation 
 training- joint rolling or moving to a beat : fingers , wrist , knees , ankle , 
 toespilates training- divided into exercises at a training center and 
 during matches- 3 times a week , 90 minutesmuscle balance training- divided into exercises in a weight room and during 
 matches- use of weight - training equipment , tubing , a foam pad , a bosu etc.- 
 increased repetitions or sets if one side can not do it- 4 types for upper limb , 
 23 types for core , 4 types for lower limbbiceps curl , arm - pushing , dumbbell 
 raise , dumbbell pronation , core training ( side bend , side setup , side lunge , leg 
 raise ) , back extension , single leg extension , single leg curl , single leg press , 
 single calf raiseexercise duration12 weeksexercise strengthwhile trainingduring matches6075% 1rmbosu ball , medicine balltubing , foam padrepetitions1015 times1015 timesrest periodmon , thurs : 30 sec / set , 23  min / itemtue , fri : circuit 
 cycle 30sec / item , 23  min / setexercise frequency3 times a weeknumber of sets3 sets ( weak side  strong side  weak side)time takentotal 3040  min- before / after exercise stretching 
 1020  minperiod12 weeks .
kinematic data were subjected to a labeling process and transformed into the c3d format , 
 and then visual3d ver .
, germantown , md , usa ) was used to perform 
 modelling and analysis12 .
the original 
 data obtained with the reflective markers contained data from swaying of the skin and noise 
 from the environment .
this was solved by smoothing the data with a butterworth lowpass 
 filter ( 6  hz)13 .
data for 20 seconds of 
 the rols and lols , each performed for 1 minute were used .
the center of mass ( com ) and 
 center of pressure ( cop ) were standardized based on the height and shoe size of each 
 athlete .
the ds was divided into descent and ascent phases ( phase 1 and phase 2 , 
 respectively ) and normalized based on each athlete s shoe size . to measure the balance 
 scale ,
balance measurement equipment ( biodex balance system sd , biodex shirley , ny , usa ) was 
 used .
in measurement of the balance scale score 
 with this equipment , the score is reduced when the body shifts off balance by more than the 
 specified limit in a certain direction .
the scores ranges from 0 to 6 , and it is better if 
 it is lower . after the means and standard deviations were calculated , the wilcoxon 
 signed - rank test was used to determine the significant differences between each of the 
 variables .
chicago , il , usa ) was used for statistical analysis , 
 and significance level was set at p<0.05 .
there were no statistically significant differences in the mediolateral , anteroposterior , 
 and superior - inferior com dispersion during the rols and lols .
there were no statistically 
 significant differences in the mediolateral , anteroposterior , and superior inferior cop 
 dispersion during the rols , but there was a statistically significant difference in the 
 mediolateral cop of the lols ( p<0.05 ) .
there was statistically significant difference in 
 the mediolateral , cop dispersion during phase 1 of the ds ( p<0.05 ) .
the results of the bs , which measures the ability to sustain 
 kinematic balance for the right foot , showed no statistically significant difference , but 
 the results of the bs for the left foot showed statistically significant difference in the 
 anteroposterior direction ( p<0.05 ) .
also , the 
 anteroposterior sway of the left foot in the bs was improved ( table 2table 2.result of balance testvariablespre ( n=9)post ( n=8)meansdmeansddispersion of com ( cm / ht)rolsap7.346.995.643.17ml4.521.174.331.55si3.521.724.302.64lolsap7.279.484.242.71ml5.323.544.591.25si2.281.482.171.26dispersion of cop ( cm / fl)rolsap11.848.646.851.30ml8.462.786.641.96lolsap8.186.137.161.52ml8.554.467.951.52dispersion of cop of ds ( cm / fl)phase 1ap5.663.235.510.97ml14.767.189.952.54phase 2ap8.397.255.091.36ml7.733.578.624.64balance scale ( score)rolsap2.711.601.901.11ml1.960.921.550.85lolsap3.141.721.810.92ml2.551.231.750.93rols : right one - leg stand ; lols : left one - leg stand ; ap : anteroposterior dispersion ; 
 ml : mediolateral dispersion ; sl : superior - inferior dispersionp<0.05 . ) .
rols : right one - leg stand ; lols : left one - leg stand ; ap : anteroposterior dispersion ; 
 ml : mediolateral dispersion ; sl : superior - inferior dispersion
this research was performed to develop and execute a smiit program to improve the imbalance 
 of upper and lower limbs muscles of fencing athletes . in the case of fencing ,
there is a 
 high probability of injuries , but there are not many case studies based on prospective 
 studies and related research5,6,7 .
roi and bianchedi 
 ( 2008 ) defined the three important factors in fencing injury prevention as participants , 
 equipment and facilities , and administration of competitions6 . in this research ,
the main objective was to improve physical 
 imbalance of the participants through physical conditioning .
tsoiakis and katsikas ( 2006 ) applied combined physical conditioning to fencers over a long 
 period of time , but there were no statistically significant changes in assessments of 
 countermovement jump or the squat14 .
but 
 there was significant change in the neuromuscular performance of countermovement jump , as 
 shown by the contact time .
rippetoe ( 2000 ) also argued that explosive multijoint , core 
 strength , and resistance exercises were necessary for effective strength and conditioning of 
 fencing athletes15 .
based on prior 
 research , the present research , taking into account the normal exercises executed by 
 national athletes , used flexibility , pilates , and muscle balance exercises for 12 weeks to 
 improve imbalance16 , 17 .
according to the results of this research , there was less 
 mediolateral movement of the nondominant leg during the lols after the program than before 
 the program .
there was also less mediolateral movement in the descent phase of the ds , as 
 well as an increase in the score of bs , which measures balance stability .
research done 
 improvement of equipment and facilities for prevention of fencing injuries suggested design 
 of new fencing shoes to lower the impulse based on measurement of the impulse with existing 
 fencing shoes , running shoes , and squash shoes18 .
( 2013 ) reported that a metal carpet fencing 
 piste ( made from woven metal ) overlaid on the wooden sprung court surface , which is good at 
 absorbing impacts should be used to decrease the effect of impact shock on the shin due to 
 overuse2 . in order to decrease the 
 danger of injuries in fencing ,
a multi - dimensional approach should be used that focuses on 
 improving conditioning . in summary
, the comparison of pre - post test of smiit program revealed that there was less 
 mediolateral swaying in the nondominant leg as well as an increase in the score of the 
 balance scale , which measures the ability to sustain balance .
 [ purpose ] the lunge motion that occurs frequently in fencing training and matches results 
 in imbalance of the upper and lower limbs muscles . 
 this research focuses on the 
 improvement of the imbalance that occurs in the national team fencers of the republic of 
 korea through specific muscle imbalance improvement training . 
 [ subjects ] the subjects of 
 this research were limited to right - handed male fencers . 
 nine male , right - handed national 
 fencing athletes were selected for this study ( 4 epee , 5 sabre ; age 28.2  2.2  years ; 
 height 182.3  4.0  cm ; weight 76.5  8.2  kg ; experience 12.4  3.0  years ) . 
 [ methods ] the 
 specific muscle imbalance improvement training program was performed for 12 weeks and 
 pre - post tests were to evaluate its effect on the experimental group . 
 measurements 
 comprised anthropometry , test of balance , and movement analysis . [ results ] 
 after the 
 training program , mediolateral sway of the nondominant lower limb and the balance scale 
 showed statistically significant improvement . 
 [ conclusion ] the specific muscle imbalance 
 improvement training program used in this research was proven to be effective for 
 improving the muscle imbalance of elite fencers . 
INTRODUCTION
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION