Early Season Hormonal and Biochemical Changes in Division I Field Hockey Players: Is Fitness Protective?

Abstract

Walker, AJ, McFadden, BA, Sanders, DJ, Bozzini, BN, Conway, SP, and Arent, SM. Early season hormonal and biochemical changes in Division I field hockey players: is fitness protective? J Strength Cond Res 34(4): 975–981, 2020—The purpose was to evaluate changes in hormonal and biochemical markers as a result of the accumulated stress of the initial 4-week training block in field hockey players. Women's Division I field hockey players (N = 22; Mage = 19.7 ± 1.1 years) performed testing before the start of preseason (A1) that included body composition (%BF), vertical jump, and V̇o 2max. Blood draws were conducted at A1 to assess creatine kinase (CK), iron (Fe), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), percent saturation (%sat), total cortisol (TCORT), free cortisol (FCORT), interleukin-6 (IL-6), sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG), prolactin (PRL), vitamin D (vitD), and thyroxine (T3). Blood draws were repeated 4 weeks later (A2). Athletes were monitored during this training block, which included 2 weeks of preseason and the first 2 weeks of the season, using heart rate monitors to determine energy expenditure (Kcal) and training load. There were significant disruptions in TCORT, FCORT, T3, CK, Fe, and SHBG (p < 0.05) from A1 to A2. V̇o 2max accounted for 31% (p < 0.05) of the variance in TCORT and %BF accounting for an additional 20.1% (p < 0.05). V̇o 2max accounted for 32.7% (p < 0.05) of the variance in FCORT. %BF accounted for 48.9% (p < 0.05) of the variance in T3. Kcal was positively correlated with V̇o 2max (p < 0.05) and negatively correlated with %BF (p < 0.05). Athletes with higher V̇o 2max and lower %BF may be capable of a higher work output and therefore more likely to experience increased physiological disruptions during intense training. The high-volume nature of preseason and differences in athlete fitness capabilities require coaches to manage players at an individual level to maintain athlete readiness.

Training vs. Competition in Sport: State Anxiety and Response of Stress Hormones in Young Swimmers

“…In fact, and as it happened with END response, plasma ACTH and PRL concentrations reached their maximum values at t3 (increases of 287% and 150%, respectively, in relation to baseline conditions). Moreover, our results are in consonance with those previously reported by Pompe et al (2001), who found similar responses of ACTH and PRL after high-intensity exercises, but contrary to those described by Choi et al (2013) and Bosco et al (1996) (van Paridon et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2019Walker et al, , 2020, the psychophysiological role of these hormones during exercise does not seem to be sufficiently defined. Thus, further investigation focused on PRL responses to exercise-induced stress is important since PRL could also be involved in reproductive cycle dysfunction and contribute to the female athlete triad (Walker et al, 2019(Walker et al, , 2020.…”

“…Moreover, our results are in consonance with those previously reported by Pompe et al (2001), who found similar responses of ACTH and PRL after high-intensity exercises, but contrary to those described by Choi et al (2013) and Bosco et al (1996) (van Paridon et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2019Walker et al, , 2020, the psychophysiological role of these hormones during exercise does not seem to be sufficiently defined. Thus, further investigation focused on PRL responses to exercise-induced stress is important since PRL could also be involved in reproductive cycle dysfunction and contribute to the female athlete triad (Walker et al, 2019(Walker et al, , 2020. Despite this, SAn decreased at this timepoint assessment compared to t2, whilst being slightly higher than the values registered at t0.…”

“…Moreover, our results are in consonance with those previously reported by Pompe et al (2001) , who found similar responses of ACTH and PRL after high-intensity exercises, but contrary to those described by Choi et al (2013) and Bosco et al (1996) who did not find significant increases in END and PRL levels after both kumdo competition and a single bout of anaerobic exercise, respectively. Although ACTH and PRL are normally used as biomarkers for overload and/or overtraining detection in athletes (van Paridon et al, 2017; Walker et al, 2019 , 2020 ), the psychophysiological role of these hormones during exercise does not seem to be sufficiently defined. Thus, further investigation focused on PRL responses to exercise-induced stress is important since PRL could also be involved in reproductive cycle dysfunction and contribute to the female athlete triad ( Walker et al, 2019 , 2020 ).…”

“…Although ACTH and PRL are normally used as biomarkers for overload and/or overtraining detection in athletes (van Paridon et al, 2017; Walker et al, 2019 , 2020 ), the psychophysiological role of these hormones during exercise does not seem to be sufficiently defined. Thus, further investigation focused on PRL responses to exercise-induced stress is important since PRL could also be involved in reproductive cycle dysfunction and contribute to the female athlete triad ( Walker et al, 2019 , 2020 ).…”

Comprehensive assessment of the health and physical development in martial arts athletes

“…Detected changes in phosphorus-calcium metabolism, leukocytosis with segmented shift, increase of alkaline phosphatase, uric acid and serum iron, changes of the liver echogenicity, pancreas and gallbladder are probably associated with an alimentary factor [13][14][15][16].…”