Physical exercises for preventing injuries among adult male football players:A systematic review

Background:Football is the most practised sport in the world and is associated with the risk of injuries in the players.Some studies have been published that identify injury prevention programs,but there is no review of the full body of evidence on injury prevention programs for use by football coaches.The aim of this article was to carry out a systematic review of published studies on injury prevention programs for adult male footballers,identify points of common understanding and establish recommendations that should be considered in the design of injury prevention strategies.Methods:PubMed and EMBASE databases were used to identify relevant published articles using the following keywords:"soccer"AND"injury"AND"prevention".Results:A total of 2512 studies were identified initially,but only 11 studies met the inclusion criteria,and their outcomes are presented.Results revealed that injury prevention programs in football have focused on strength training,proprioceptive training,multicomponent programs(balance,core stability,and functional strength and mobility),and warm-up programs.Conclusion:Based on results from the studies analyzed,football players can lower the incidence of match and training injuries by participating in dynamic warm-up programs that include preventive exercises before games or during training sessions,and by adding strength,balance,and mobility training to the training sessions.

Heart rate variability to assess ventilatory thresholds in professional basketball players

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine if heart rate variability(HRV) during incremental test could be used to estimate ventilatory threshold(VT) in professional basketball players, with sufficient precision to be used in their training. Furthermore, the second aim was to analyse the association between HRV and 3 methods of VT determination by gas analysis.Methods: Twenty-four professional basketball players(age: 23.4 ± 4.9 years; height: 195.4 ± 9.8 cm; body mass: 92.2 ± 11.9 kg) performed an incremental running test to exhaustion. First ventilatory threshold(VT1) was determined by ventilatory equivalent(VE) and HRV and second ventilatory threshold(VT2) was determined by 3 methods of gases analysis(V-slope, VE and gas exchange ratio(R), and HRV). Pearson's coefficient(r) was used to detect differences between data and the strength of each relationship. The mean of absolute differences and Bland–Altman analysis were used to evaluate whether there was agreement.Results: The results showed no significant differences in HR and oxygen consumption(VO2) at VT1 between the 2 methods. Furthermore, no significant differences among the methods of gases analysis and HRV were observed in speed, HR, and VO2 at VT2. Moreover, VTs estimated using HRV and gas methods were significantly correlated. Correlation in HR values was higher between R and HRV(r = 0.96) and VE and HRV(r = 0.96) than V-slope and HRV(r = 0.90).Conclusion: These findings provide a practical, inexpensive approach for evaluating specific training loads when determining VT2 in basketball players. Therefore, HRV is an alternative method to determine VT2 without the application of expensive technology that limits its use to laboratories.

Factors that affect heart rate variability following acute resistance exercise:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:There is controversial evidence regarding the effect of acute resistance exercise(ARE) on heart rate variability(HRV) parameters,which indicates the activities of the cardiac autonomic nervous system.The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on the effect of ARE on HRV parameters and identify its possible moderating factors.Methods:The PubMed-Medline,Web of Science,SPORTDiscus,and Cochrane Library databases were searched.The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA) declaration was followed,and the methodological quality of the studies was evaluated.The level of significance was set at p≤0.05.Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria.Main effect analyses between pre-and post-test interventions demonstrated an increase in normalized units low frequency(p <0.001;standardized mean difference(SMD)=0.78;95% confidence interval(95%CI):0.46-1.11) and low frequency/high frequency ratio(p <0.001;SMD=0.82;95%CI:0.64-0.99) and a decrease in standard deviation of the normal-to-normal(NN)interval(p <0.001;SMD=-0.58;95%CI:-0.85 to-0.30),root mean square of the successive differences(p <0.001;SMD=-1.01;95%CI:-1.29 to-0.74),and normalized units high frequency(p <0.001;SMD:-1.08;95%CI:-1.43 to-0.73) following ARE in healthy individuals range:15 ± 1 to 48 ± 2 years;mean ± SD).Results:There were differences between the subgroups in the number of sets used in an exercise(p=0.05) for root mean square of the successive differences,as well as for exercise intensity(p=0.01) and rest between sets(p=0.05) for normalized units high frequency.Interestingly,there were differences between the subgroups in training volume for root mean square of the successive differences(p=0.01),normalized units high frequency(p=0.003) and normalized units low frequency(p=0.02).Conclusion:Overall,there was a withdrawal of cardiac parasympathetic and activation of cardiac sympathetic modulations following ARE,and these changes were greater with higher training volume ~30 min after ARE in healthy individuals.Furthermore,the number of sets,intensity,and rest between sets affected HRV parameters.However,gender,body mass index,and training status did not influence the changes in HRV parameters as a response to ARE.