Differences in Cortical Representation and Structural Connectivity of Hands and Feet between Professional Handball Players and Ballet Dancers

Table 4

Group comparisons of fractional anisotropy (FA) in the respective corticospinal tracts (CST).

CST	Ballet		Handball		Controls		t (20)	p	d
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
	0.4372	0.0264	0.4305	0.0206	0.4298	0.0275	0.66	0.516	0.30
	0.4144	0.0287	0.4456	0.0210	0.4304	0.0256	−2.94	0.016	−1.32
	0.4058	0.0238	0.4192	0.0365	0.4139	0.0423	−1.00	0.377	−0.45
	0.3794	0.0237	0.4192	0.0206	0.4057	0.0252	−4.22	0.001	−1.89
	0.4252	0.0198	0.4408	0.0269	0.4301	0.0297	−1.52	0.230	−0.68
	0.3834	0.0186	0.4671	0.0222	0.4302	0.0386	−9.45		−4.25
	0.3854	0.0304	0.4010	0.0234	0.4035	0.0239	−1.36	0.253	−0.61
	0.3586	0.0286	0.4561	0.0242	0.4132	0.0395	−8.68		−3.89

Note. Differences were calculated between the two sports groups using unpaired t-tests (false discovery rate [FDR] corrected). Value within brackets represents degrees of freedom; d, effect size (Cohen’s d); L, left hemisphere; M, mean; M1, primary motor cortex; n, number of subjects; p, error probability (two-tailed); R, right hemisphere; S1, primary somatosensory cortex; SD, standard deviation; t, t-value.