TY - JOUR
T1 - Detraining of specific neuromuscular qualities in elite footballers during COVID-19 quarantine
AU - Cohen, Daniel D.
AU - Restrepo, Alfredo
AU - Richter, Chris
AU - Harry, John R.
AU - Franchi, Martino V.
AU - Restrepo, Carlos
AU - Poletto, Rodrigo
AU - Taberner, Matt
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic forced elite football leagues into extended breaks followed by prompt resumption of competition. Inadequate periods of on-pitch football-specific training may underlie the increased injury incidence reported following restart in a non-peer reviewed report. Detraining effects from isolated training are expected, but existing models do not completely describe the unprecedented conditions imposed by COVID-19. Providing insight into specific neuromuscular qualities affected by extended absence of football-specific training, we share countermovement jump performance and kinetic data from an elite team’s assessments pre and post 15 weeks of isolated training, and to contextualise these trends, off-season changes with no training. The isolated circuit resistance and aerobic interval training maintained jump height and Reactive Strength Indexmodified, but there were moderate magnitude (p = 0.01–0.04) changes in eccentric ‘yielding’ and landing ‘loading’ phase variables. These changes suggest a compromised initiation of countermovement deceleration, impact attenuation and altered coordination/motor control strategies or muscle-tendon properties. This analysis may have revealed kinetic markers specifically stimulated by football-specific training/competition, relevant to post-quarantine monitoring. Lower landing forces may reduce overuse injury risk, while yielding phase alterations suggest a negative effect on reactive performance, therefore the overall effect on vulnerability to injury is unclear.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic forced elite football leagues into extended breaks followed by prompt resumption of competition. Inadequate periods of on-pitch football-specific training may underlie the increased injury incidence reported following restart in a non-peer reviewed report. Detraining effects from isolated training are expected, but existing models do not completely describe the unprecedented conditions imposed by COVID-19. Providing insight into specific neuromuscular qualities affected by extended absence of football-specific training, we share countermovement jump performance and kinetic data from an elite team’s assessments pre and post 15 weeks of isolated training, and to contextualise these trends, off-season changes with no training. The isolated circuit resistance and aerobic interval training maintained jump height and Reactive Strength Indexmodified, but there were moderate magnitude (p = 0.01–0.04) changes in eccentric ‘yielding’ and landing ‘loading’ phase variables. These changes suggest a compromised initiation of countermovement deceleration, impact attenuation and altered coordination/motor control strategies or muscle-tendon properties. This analysis may have revealed kinetic markers specifically stimulated by football-specific training/competition, relevant to post-quarantine monitoring. Lower landing forces may reduce overuse injury risk, while yielding phase alterations suggest a negative effect on reactive performance, therefore the overall effect on vulnerability to injury is unclear.
KW - COVID-19
KW - countermovement jump
KW - detraining
KW - elite football
KW - jump-landing kinetics
KW - sports-specific training
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096484006&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/24733938.2020.1834123
DO - 10.1080/24733938.2020.1834123
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096484006
SN - 2473-3938
VL - 5
SP - 26
EP - 31
JO - Science and Medicine in Football
JF - Science and Medicine in Football
IS - sup1
ER -