Attentional and visual demands for sprint performance in non-fatigued and fatigued conditions: reliability of a repeated sprint test.
BACKGROUND
Physical performance measures are widely used to assess physical function, providing information about physiological and biomechanical aspects of motor performance. However they do not provide insight into the attentional and visual demands for motor performance. A figure-of-eight sprint test was therefore developed to measure the attentional and visual demands for repeated-sprint performance. The aims of the study were: 1) to assess test-retest reliability of the figure-of-eight sprint test, and 2) to study the attentional and visual demands for sprint performance in a non-fatigued and fatigued condition.


METHODS
Twenty-seven healthy athletes were included in the study. To determine test-retest reliability, a subgroup of 19 athletes performed the figure-of-eight sprint test twice. The figure-of-eight sprint test consisted of nine 30-second sprints. The sprint test consisted of three test parts: sprinting without any restriction, with an attention-demanding task, and with restricted vision. Increases in sprint times with the attention-demanding task or restricted vision are reflective of the attentional and visual demands for sprinting. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and mean difference between test and retest with 95% confidence limits (CL) were used to assess test-retest reliability. Repeated-measures ANOVA were used for comparisons between the sprint times and fatigue measurements of the test parts in both a non-fatigued and fatigued condition.


RESULTS
The figure-of-eight sprint test showed good test-retest reliability, with ICCs ranging from 0.75 to 0.94 (95% CL: 0.40-0.98). Zero lay within the 95% CL of the mean differences, indicating that no bias existed between sprint performance at test and retest. Sprint times during the test parts with attention-demanding task (P = 0.01) and restricted vision (P < 0.001) increased significantly compared to the base measurement. Furthermore the sprint times and fatigue measurements increased significantly in fatigued condition. There was a significant interaction effect between test part and level of fatigue (P = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
High ICCs and the absence of systematic variation indicate good test-retest reliability of the figure-of-eight sprint test. The attentional and visual demands for sprint performance, in both a non-fatigued and fatigued condition, can be measured in healthy team-sport athletes with the figure-of-eight sprint test.
Reininga
Inge H F
IH
Department of Orthopaedics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, PO Box 30,001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. i.reininga@orth.umcg.nl
Lemmink
Koen A P M
KA
Diercks
Ron L
RL
Buizer
Arina T
AT
Stevens
Martin
M
D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018763:Muscle Fatigue / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult