Effects of a Single-Dose of Mind-Body Practice on the Heart Rate Variability, Brain Activity and Shooting Performance in Archers: A Pilot Study

Objective: Factors affecting performance of archery are categorized into psychological, skill, and fitness perspectives. Increase in attention, relaxation and parasympathetic system activity is believed to enhance the shooting performance of archers during competition. This pilot study aims to investigate the effects of single-dose of Tai Chi practice on archer’s performance and the feasibility of an investigation protocol under a competition scenario. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a crossover study design. Pre- and post-intervention measurements were conducted to evaluate the effects of Tai Chi practice on the archer’s autonomic nervous system activity, attention and relaxation through electroencephalography investigation, and shooting performance when compared with stretching as control. Results: The protocol of the study was found to be feasible during a competition setting. No significant difference was detected in the outcome measures under the two intervention conditions. Participants after practicing Tai Chi were found to improve significantly in their shooting performance (p = 0.021). Conclusion: This pilot study showed that a real-time measurement of autonomic nervous system and brain wave activities in the competition field was feasible and it did not hinder the archers’ performance. There was a significant improvement observed in the shooting performance of archers after Tai Chi practice when compared with baseline. The findings of this pilot study provide the basis for the conduction of a larger RCT study to examine the potential beneficial effects of Tai Chi practice on archers.