Postural stability decreases in elite young soccer players after a competitive soccer match.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of an official soccer match on postural stability in youth elite soccer players.


METHODS
Single-group pre-post design.


METHODS
Competitive soccer match.


METHODS
Twenty elite U-19 male soccer players (mean age: 17.7 ± 1.0 years) of which 11 completed the full experimental set-up.


METHODS
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.
Centre 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
João
J
Brito
Ivo
I
Fontes
Fernando
F
Ribeiro
António
A
Raposo
Peter
P
Krustrup
António
A
Rebelo
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018763:Muscle Fatigue; D004856:Postural Balance; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult