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Detraining of specific neuromuscular qualities in elite footballers during COVID-19 quarantine

2020; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: sup1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/24733938.2020.1834123

2473-4446

Daniel D. Cohen, Alfredo Restrepo, Chris Richter, John R. Harry, Martino V. Franchi, Carlos S. Restrepo, Rodrigo Poletto, Matt Taberner,

Sports injuries and prevention

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.