Beyond PlayerLoad: Detection of Critical Moments and Injury Risk in Elite Women's Futsal

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Biomechanics
• Exercise Physiology

Background:

• Optimizing physical load monitoring is crucial for elite women's futsal performance and injury prevention.
• External load metrics like PlayerLoad may not capture high-intensity acceleration/deceleration moments during competition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and characterize critical moments of high acceleration/deceleration in elite women's futsal.
• To analyze the influence of score, playing position, match half, and location on physical load.
• To understand situational patterns in physical load beyond total metrics.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 13 elite female futsal players over a full season using WIMU PRO™ inertial devices.
• Processing acceleration and deceleration data using four Linear Mixed Models (LMMs).
• Examining interactions between situational factors (score, position, half, location) and physical load (volume, intensity).

Main Results:

• Significant interactions were found across all models, indicating context-dependent physical load.
• Physical load volume increased when teams were winning, especially for pivot players.
• Physical load intensity peaked during adverse conditions, particularly when losing at home.

Conclusions:

• Elite women's futsal physical load exhibits distinct situational patterns: increased volume when leading, increased intensity when trailing.
• Identifying these critical moments provides a deeper understanding of physical demands than total load metrics alone.
• This contextual understanding can guide individualized and situation-specific injury prevention strategies.