Post-match physiological assessment in soccer as a parameter to verify musculoskeletal injury risks

Abstract

Introduction: The efforts of soccer athletes are characterized as a repetitive and systematic process in which as motor actions required during the games promote consecutive overloads capable of modifying a function and organization of muscle tissue and exposing the risk to the risk of injury. Objective: To  analyze different physiological / psychometric variables in an integrated way and verify the possible risks. Methods: The sample consisted of 10 professional soccer players (age 26.4 ± 4.7 years, height 178.5 ± 5.7 cm, body weight 77.3 kg ± 7.5 kg, fat percentage 10.2 ± 3 , 2%) with no history of injuries at the time of the intervention. During the match, all athletes were monitored by a global positioning system (GPS) device with accelerometer to measure the volume and
intensity of the game. During the 24h and 48h post-match periods a biochemical analysis of creatine kinase (CK) was performed, such as inferior inferior antero-posterior thermographic analyzes, a skin conductance analysis (SC) and as a psychometric review using a health questionnaire and quality of life. All measurements were compared to baseline values (baseline x 24h x 48h). Results: The results showed a significant increase in the perception of muscle pain and fatigue in 24h and 48h when compared to baseline values. However, sleep quality presented a significant difference from baseline with only 24h (p <0.05). As concentrations of CK were
shown to be significantly elevated in 24h post-match compared to baseline and 48h post-match (p <0.0004). No report was found at a distance when compared to baseline values (p <0.0001). The anteroposterior thermophilic profile of the inferiors presented a significant increase to maximum and average values at the 24h and 48h post-match moments when compared to the baseline values (p <0.05). Conclusion: Please consider first that post-match physiological assessment can be adopted through an integrated analysis of the physiological / psychometric systems, in order to measure the athlete's physiological stress. In addition, it was observed that the 48-hour postmatch  period is not a sample for a full recovery of professional soccer athletes.