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Postural stability decreases in elite young soccer players after a competitive soccer match
João Brito1, Ivo Fontes, Fernando Ribeiro
1Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, R. Dr. Plácido Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal. jbrito@fade.up.pt
Objective:
To investigate the effects of an official soccer match on postural stability in youth elite soccer players.
Design:
Single-group pre-post design.
Setting:
Competitive soccer match.
Participants:
Twenty elite U-19 male soccer players (mean age: 17.7 ± 1.0 years) of which 11 completed the full experimental set-up.
Main Outcome Measures:
Postural stability evaluated by unilateral stance tests for dominant and non-dominant lower limbs on a force plate under two visual conditions: eyes opened (EO) and eyes closed (EC).
Results:
After the match, the centre of gravity (CoG) sway velocity with EO increased on the dominant and non-dominant limbs (median [interquartile range], 0.90°/s [0.60-1.10] vs. 1.10°/s [0.60-1.60]; and 0.70°/s [0.50-0.90] vs 1.00°/s [0.70-1.30]; respectively; p < 0.05). The CoG sway velocity with eyes closed did not change pre- to post-match.
Conclusions:
The soccer match decreased the postural stability only when the assessment was conducted with eyes open.
