TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of biomechanical response to fatigue through wearable sensors in semi-professional football referees
AU - Truppa, Luigi
AU - Guaitolini, Michelangelo
AU - Garofalo, Pietro
AU - Castagna, Carlo
AU - Mannini, Andrea
N1 - Funding Information:
Conflicts of Interest: A.M. and L.T. reports grants from the Italian Ministry of University and Research and from Italian Ministry of Defense during the study. L.T. received personal fees from TuringSense EU Lab (see Funding section) outside the work. A.M. received personal fees from IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi outside the work. No other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the work were found for M.G., P.G. or C.C.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - Quantifying muscle fatigue is a key aspect of everyday sport practice. A reliable and objective solution that can fulfil this task would be deeply important for two main reasons: (i) it would grant an objective indicator to adjust the daily training load for each player and (ii) it would provide an innovative tool to reduce the risk of fatigue-related injuries. Available solutions for objectively quantifying the fatigue level of fatigue can be invasive for the athlete; they could alter the performance or they are not compatible with daily practice on the playground. Building on previous findings that identified fatigue-related parameters in the kinematic of the counter-movement jump (CMJ), this study evaluates the physical response to a fatigue protocol (i.e., Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1) in 16 football referees, by monitoring CMJ performance with wearable magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMU). Nineteen kinematic parameters were selected as suitable indicators for fatigue detection. The analysis of their variations allowed us to distinguish two opposites but coherent responses to the fatigue protocol. Indeed, eight out of sixteen athletes showed reduced performance (e.g., an effective fatigue condition), while the other eight athletes experienced an improvement of the execution likely due to the so-called Post-Activation Potentiation. In both cases, the above parameters were significantly influenced by the fatigue protocol (p < 0.05), confirming their validity for fatigue monitoring. Interesting correlations between several kinematic parameters and muscular mass were highlighted in the fatigued group. Finally, a “fatigue approximation index” was proposed and validated as fatigue quantifier.
AB - Quantifying muscle fatigue is a key aspect of everyday sport practice. A reliable and objective solution that can fulfil this task would be deeply important for two main reasons: (i) it would grant an objective indicator to adjust the daily training load for each player and (ii) it would provide an innovative tool to reduce the risk of fatigue-related injuries. Available solutions for objectively quantifying the fatigue level of fatigue can be invasive for the athlete; they could alter the performance or they are not compatible with daily practice on the playground. Building on previous findings that identified fatigue-related parameters in the kinematic of the counter-movement jump (CMJ), this study evaluates the physical response to a fatigue protocol (i.e., Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1) in 16 football referees, by monitoring CMJ performance with wearable magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMU). Nineteen kinematic parameters were selected as suitable indicators for fatigue detection. The analysis of their variations allowed us to distinguish two opposites but coherent responses to the fatigue protocol. Indeed, eight out of sixteen athletes showed reduced performance (e.g., an effective fatigue condition), while the other eight athletes experienced an improvement of the execution likely due to the so-called Post-Activation Potentiation. In both cases, the above parameters were significantly influenced by the fatigue protocol (p < 0.05), confirming their validity for fatigue monitoring. Interesting correlations between several kinematic parameters and muscular mass were highlighted in the fatigued group. Finally, a “fatigue approximation index” was proposed and validated as fatigue quantifier.
KW - Biomechanics
KW - Counter-movement jump
KW - Fatigue detection
KW - Football
KW - Wearable inertial sensors
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U2 - 10.3390/s21010066
DO - 10.3390/s21010066
M3 - Article
C2 - 33374324
AN - SCOPUS:85098760945
VL - 21
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Sensors
JF - Sensors
SN - 1424-3210
IS - 1
M1 - 66
ER -