Influence of the artificial turf certification on physical performance and muscle damage in football players (QUALTURF PROJECT)

Abstract

This study aimed to analyse the influence of the FIFA Quality PRO certification of artificial turf pitches on the physical, physiological performance and muscle damage in soccer players. Fifteen healthy male players (21.2 ± 1.4 years; 178.2 ± 4.3 cm; 79.1 ± 8.3 kg) from a university football team were selected to participate in the research. Mechanical properties related to surface–player interaction were assessed on the two surfaces selected for this study. A randomized design was used and the players performed the Ball-sport Endurance and Sprint Test (BEAST90) on the different artificial turf fields. Average time of the 20 m sprints was longer on the FIFA Quality Pro surface than on the non-certified pitch (+ 0.13 s; p < 0.05; CI 95% − 0.01 to 0.27; ES: 0.305). The players’ perceived effort was higher in the first (+ 2.64; p < 0.05; CI 95% 0.92 to 4.35; ES: 1.421) and the second half (+ 1.35; p < 0.05; CI 95% − 0.02 to 2.72; ES: 0.637) of the test on the FIFA Quality Pro field. Comparative analysis between surfaces showed no significant differences in the time spent in each of the heart rate zones and higher concentrations of CK (+ 196.58; p > 0.05; CI 95% 66.54 to 326.61; ES: 1.645) were evidenced in the non-certified pitch surface. In response to a simulated match protocol, markers of post-exercise muscle damage may be reduced on accredited artificial turf fields. These insights can provide the opportunity to maximize the efficiency of training sessions and reduce the risk of injury during the season.

Caffeine Supplementation does not Increase Performance on Professional Soccer Official Matches

“…The possible explanation for the divergent results of these three previous studies may be related to several factors such as the different forms of supplementation used in these studies, the intake of energy drinks that, in addition to caffeine, contained other substances such as sodium bicarbonate and taurine [7][8][9]. Furthermore, performance in the soccer game can be affected by numerous variables, such as physical fitness [16,17], competitive level [18,19], artificial turf versus natural grass [20,21], heat stress due to environment temperature [22,23], ball possession, and player/team technical standard [24,25]. Soccer is an unforeseeable sport and so many variables are impossible to control, therefore, they may still have influenced the results since the data collection was performed in official matches.…”

Evaluating a Novel, Portable, Self-Administrable Device (“Beacon”) That Measures Critical Flicker Frequency as a Test for Hepatic Encephalopathy

“…However, this device was not available for purchase in the United States. We instead used the commercially available Lafayette-FFS, which has been used for CFF measurement for other disease processes (14,15). Second, we did not evaluate for the presence of MHE using other measures such as psychometric testing.…”