Changes in Neuromuscular Status Across a Season of Professional Men's Ice Hockey

Abstract

Gannon, EA, Higham, DG, Gardner, BW, Nan, N, Zhao, J, and Bisson, LJ. Changes in neuromuscular status across a season of professional men’s ice hockey. J Strength Cond Res 35(5): 1338–1344, 2021—To quantify changes in neuromuscular function over a full professional men's ice hockey season, 27 players (n = 18 forwards and 9 defensemen) performed 3 countermovement jumps (CMJ) each week over 30 sessions separated into 4 phases: preseason, early-season, midseason, and late-season. Outcome variables represented jump performance (jump height), kinematics (mean velocity and peak velocity), and movement strategy (countermovement depth). Mixed models characterized relationships between positional group, season phase, and CMJ outcomes. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Concentric peak velocity (p = 0.02), jump height (p = 0.001), and countermovement depth (p < 0.001) displayed a significant reduction across the season. Peak velocity was lower during the early-season than the preseason (−0.10 ± 0.06 m·s−1, mean change ± 95% confidence limit, p = 0.05). Countermovement depth was reduced during the early-season (−0.06 ± 0.03 m, p = 0.02), midseason (−0.10 ± 0.04 m, p = 0.002), and late-season (−0.15 ± 0.04 m, p < 0.001) relative to the preseason. Reductions in CMJ variables from preseason to in-season ranged from trivial to large. Changes in countermovement depth differed for forwards and defensemen by the season phase (p = 0.04). A professional ice hockey season decreases CMJ performance, with the effects of fatigue most prominent during the late-season phase. Countermovement depth was most sensitive to fatigue and differentiated positional-group responses. Frequent CMJ testing is useful for identifying the neuromuscular status of team-sport athletes relative to season-specific phases. Fatigue monitoring should incorporate movement-strategy variables alongside traditional measures of performance and kinematics.

Neuromuscular Performance Changes in Elite Futsal Players Over a Competitive Season

“…Significant changes in CMJ kinetic variables have been noted in studies in other team-sports athletes (9,16). In professional ice-hockey athletes, Gannon et al (9) found that concentric peak velocity and COM displacement decreased in the late season when compared to the early season. Moreover, the concentric power decrements may reflect potential residual fatigue or the muscular skeletal system that negatively affect power production capabilities as the season progresses (6).…”

“…For example, Gonzalez et al (11) observed, in a sample of elite basketball players, that starters improved vertical jump power, quickness, and reaction time 17.15%, 0.29%, and 5.66% more, respectively, than nonstarters during the season. The variability in findings across these studies may be attributed to differences in the characteristics or demands of the sport, the level of the competition, the congestion of the competitive calendar (i.e., different number of matches per week), age (e.g., youth-amateur vs experienced), or contextual factors (e.g., player role: starters vs nonstarters) (9,11,16,32). Regarding futsal, few studies (2,22,29) have investigated potential changes in physical capacities across the season.…”

Countermovement Jump Performance and Team Membership of Youth Female and Male Ice Hockey Players

“…To do so, they collected four variables (concentric mean velocity, concentric peak velocity, jump height, and countermovement depth) that represented (a) jump performance (jump height), (b) kinematics (mean velocity, peak velocity) and (c) movement or jump strategy (countermovement depth) and that were showed to be sensitive to changes in neuromuscular status. Significant decreases were found in concentric peak velocity, jump height, and countermovement depth at each of the four phases of the season, with the largest differences observed during the late-season relative to the pre-season, suggesting that players were in a compromised neuromuscular state for a significant period of time during the in-season, potentially due to the rigors of the competition calendar and extensive traveling, which impact recovery (15). Countermovement depth showed the largest decrement throughout the season and proved to be the most sensitive to changes in neuromuscular function over that period, with decrements in meters of -0.06 ± 0.03 in the Considering the popularity of the CMJ for assessing lower-body power in various sporting contexts, its ease of use with large groups of athletes and its correlation to on-ice skating performance, the purpose of this research was two-fold.…”

“…In recent years, researchers and practitioners have been encouraged to move beyond only measuring jump height or 'jump outcome/output' and to also include variables that describe 'jump strategy' (2,8,15,18,37). When assessed via force plates, the force-time characteristics and additional kinetic variables obtained from the CMJ can provide insights into an athlete's neuromuscular performance (31).…”

Countermovement Jumps Detect Subtle Motor Deficits in People with Multiple Sclerosis below the Clinical Threshold

“…The CMJ is commonly used in professional sports to assess lower-body ballistic performance and monitor the effectiveness of training programs [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Many research studies confirm the high validity and reliability of the CMJ on force plates to assess motor function of the lower extremity in a variety of clinical settings [ 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”