Ivan Ruzic Case Report – Al Nasr (UAE Pro League)
Football (soccer) is the second most important thing in the world. The development in various aspects of this game is constantly searched for. “Panem et circenses” ask for more dynamic game in order to give more fun for spectators. Advances in training procedures, nutrition, supplementation and other branches of science has led to even more demand from athletes. However, humans’ biological possibilities are limited and above-mentioned advances are actually putting extreme load on sportsmen. All of these can be tackled with proper periodization of training/competition load. Unfortunately, the dynamics of competition is also increasing in such a rate that it is becoming very hard for athletes to endure. This is leading to increased number of athletes’ injuries in recent years. lf we assume that training and competition load is unchangeable then we have a big challenge in terms of taking good care of athletes in terms of injury prevention.
One of the aspects of proper maintenance is recovery after competition. Physiologically, the higher physical load that is given- the more time will, most likely, be necessary for athlete’s full recovery and next bout of training and competition.
Recovery under allowed rules, especially when WADA regulations are taken in consideration, are limited to proper rest/sleep, physical procedures (ice bath, game ready, cryo chambers, massage…) and nutritional (certain natural beverages, proper food). Physical procedures are actually optimizing physiological processes in the body but all of the already mentioned are limited to circulatory processes and subjective feeling of wellness. Of course, they have their own place in this game but it is difficult to say that there is a lot of room for great improvement in close future.
Rest and sleep a for a recovery is time limited, we can’t compress the time or stretch the days. There are various supplements that can enhance sleep quality such are melatonin and vitamin D and those are already in use for long time now. Similar is with the nutrition with remark that it is perhaps the oldest option for the recovery, most likely from the ancient times, especially used in warfare.
So, if we take all of the above in consideration we might conclude that there is not so much of space for some great improvement in recovery for the athletes, at least not in the already known topics.
In such cases it can be practical to look for the other aspect that are underrepresented or maybe even neglected as a recovery. Nervous system could be one of them. During physical exhaustion a lot of neurophysiological changes occurs. Most of them leads to excessive consumption of neurotransmitters which is downgrading ability of neural pathways to send proper commands from CNS to organs and systems in the periphery which results in certain difficulties or slowness in metabolism in general. This effect is reflected in general feeling of tiredness and need for prolonged rest.
The question is- can we, by optimizing nervous system, further improve recovery time and quality. The results of this trial suggest so.
This trial aimed to assess effect of wearable non-pharmaceutical devices on different aspects of recovery. The assessment was performed through questionaries’ related to subjective feeling of fatigue, DOMS, sleep quality and mood level in the first 48h after the football match.
Participants are recruited from football first division in middle east, all of them are professional football players whom was trained in European football academies and are national team players in their home countries. Age of the participants is 27 to 29 years. Currently they all train and compete in the same club. All of the athletes gave verbal consent to participate. Prior to that they were informed about all aspects of the trial and was able to understand the nature of the assessment and intervention as well as the related risks. The devices used are WADA compatible, therefore there was no risks of doping violations.
Nine athletes were selected and divided in three groups. Each of the athletes had the same physical preparation before the competition period and were healthy in general with no injuries sustained for at least three months before the trial. All of the groups was given questionnaire related to usual recovery after the average match played and has answered it.
Prior this trial all of the athletes were playing the match for 97 minutes.
First group was given standard devices for recovery, 17 in total, after the game. Second group was given the patches that looks the same as devices but without any effect on the athlete (placebo group). Both groups wore the devices for 48h. Third group stayed with standard recovery as it is practice in this club and was not given any devices.
All of the groups were asked to answer the questionnaire which they did.
The results were as follows:
Level of fatigue compared to usual fatigue during 48h following the match for the group with the devices was on average lower for 26.6%.
Quality of sleep with the devices haven’t changed for any group.
Level of DOMS compared to usual DOMS during 48h following the match for the group with the devices was on average lower for 30%.
Mocd level compared to usual mood during 48h following the match for the group with the devices was on average better for 45%.
The control group didn’t have any changes compared to usual period of recovery.
The placebo group had no significant changes. However, there is some placebo effect on the
mood for one of the participants.
It was also noticed that there is possibly prolonged period of effect from devices. Both groups that had intervention or placebo were asked to fill in once more the same questionnaire ten days after the trial, this without any intervention. The results showed that even after 10 days of intervention there was still lover level of fatigue and DOMS experienced by the athletes whom had devices while for the placebo group the values was back to normal.
These results suggests that the devices used in this trial have moderate to high impact on the subjective feeling of the recovery of the athletes in terms of lesser feeling of fatigue and DOMS, better mood while there was no differences in sleep quality recorded.
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Before this trial, the participants had run an average of 11 km per match and were achieving speeds of 29-35 km/h. Out of this distance, each of the participants has run/sprinted 220/300m with an average HR (bpm) of 120-150.
In this trial the participants had the same effort compared to usual, previously recorded but one difference is notable regarding the effort that was given, the disc group had a 10% longer distance that was running high/sprinted compared to the placebo group.
These values give us more support for the conclusion that the intervention was superior to usual recovery and placebo.
Regarding the potential long-term effect of one-time discing for recovery, the participants were followed up 10 days after the intervention and assessed one match later to compare the recovery quality and possibility of a prolonged effect of the initial intervention.
In the following match, previously disced participants had run 10% greater total distance, had running-high/sprinted 25% greater distance, and reached 5% bigger average values of HR.
The values suggest that there is most likely a long-term effect of intervention. It was observed that even 10 days after intervention recovery rate was still superior to the usual recovery when compared to the group with no intervention.
These results support further that the intervention used in this trial has a moderate to high impact on the subjective feeling of the recovery of the athletes in terms of lesser feeling of fatigue and DOMS, and better mood while there were no differences in sleep quality recorded.
