Acute Effects of High- Versus Low-Elevation-Gain Trail Running Training on Static and Dynamic Postural Balance in Young Trail Runners

Background: Trail running is a sport characterized by taking place in natural environ-ments and requiring constant adaptation to irregular terrain, making postural balance crucial for preventing falls and coping with the coordinative demands of these races. Objectives: This study aimed to analyse the acute effects of the elevation on dynamic and static balance in young trained trail runners. Methods: Fifteen highly trained young ath-letes (8 females, 7 males; age 16.8 ± 2.14 years) completed two similar training sessions except for the elevation gain (1000 m vs. 15 m, flat). Static Balance was evaluated using the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and dynamic balance was assessed with the Y Balance Test (YBT) before and after each session. Results: No statistically significant dif-ferences were found in the dynamic balance, YBT results between elevation and flat ses-sions when comparing pre- vs. post-session in the composite index (83.79 ± 7.59 vs. 83.32 ± 7.92, p = 0.763). In contrast, static balance BESS showed an average increase of 3 errors after elevation training compared with flat training (15.53 ± 1.23 vs. 12.67 ± 1.33, p < 0.001). Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for specific strategies to preserve postural balance—especially static balance—during training and after trail races, and support tak-ing elevation gain into account when programming training load in young trail runners.