Lower-Limb Muscle Contractile Properties, Explosive Power and the Subjective Response of Elite Soccer Players to the COVID-19 Lockdown

Armin H. Paravlic, Bostjan Simunic, Sasa Pisot, Matej Kleva, Kaja Teraz, Matjaz Vogrin, Uros Marusic and Rado Pisot
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Armin H. Paravlic: Faculty of Sport, Institute of Kinesiology, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Bostjan Simunic: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
Sasa Pisot: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
Matej Kleva: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
Kaja Teraz: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
Matjaz Vogrin: Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Sports Medicine, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Uros Marusic: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, 6000 Koper, Slovenia
Rado Pisot: Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Kinesiology Research, 6000 Koper, Slovenia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: The present study examined the effects of the lockdown period on basic anthropometric measures, countermovement jumping performance, skeletal muscle contractile properties derived from tensiomyography (TMG), injury incidence, and self-assessed general well-being in elite soccer players. A total of 266 players were assessed before (PRE) and 32 players were reassessed 11 days after (POST) the COVID-19 period. Significant changes in the TMG parameters were observed POST compared to PRE: contraction time (Tc) increased from 6% to 50% in vastus lateralis [VL] ( p = 0.009) and biceps femoris [BF] ( p < 0.001), respectively; whereas radial displacement (Dm) increased for 19% in BF ( p = 0.036) and 17% in VL ( p < 0.001), respectively. Jumping performance remained unchanged from PRE to POST In addition, athletes rated the lockdown period as a positive event and felt psychologically better during the lockdown, primarily because they spent more time with family members and friends. Although there were no differences in any of the variables describing lower limb muscle power following the two-month lockdown, the altered contractile properties of the assessed muscles suggest suboptimal conditioning of the football players.

Keywords: explosive power; CMJ; tensiomyography; male football; SJ; SARS-CoV-2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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