Efeito do pré-condicionamento isquêmico sobre o desempenho e recuperação de jogadores de futebol sub-17 após uma partida simulada de futebol

Abstract

Despite the high physical exhaustion of a football match, it is common for teams to play two or three games in the same week, the so-called congested calendars, a period where evidence of a decline in agility, sprint performance and the total distance covered by players was found. A non-invasive, fast, easy to apply and low-cost intervention that could help in the process of recovering this performance is ischemic preconditioning (IPC). The technique has already been tested in several sports and the use of IPC has generated positive results in improving athletes' performance and recovery. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of using previously applied ischemia and perfusion maneuvers on early and late recovery from a football match. Twenty athletes from the under-17 category played a simulated game with two 45-minute halves separated by a 15-minute break. Firstly, the athletes underwent one of three interventions: a) IPC [3 cycles of 3 minutes of occlusion (pressure of 120 mmHg with an increase of 10 in 10 mmHg until vascular occlusion was reached) for 3 minutes of reperfusion (0 mmHg)]; b) placebo (identical to IPC, but with 20 mmHg during pseudocclusion); and c) control (no occlusion). Pre-game (baseline), 24, 48 and 72 hours after the football match, the performance of the counter movement jump (CMJ), 30 m Sprint, “T” agility test and the perceptual scales of muscle pain, recovery , sleep quality and urine color were measured. There was an effect of time (p = 0.004) on CMJ performance, but there was no effect of group (p = 0.360) nor interaction between time and group (p = 0.092). At 24-h after the recovery intervention, a significant drop in CMJ performance was observed for the IPC group, when compared to baseline, which was reestablished 72-h after the intervention. On the other hand, no significant changes in the SHAM and control groups were observed throughout the recovery period. Regarding sprint performance, there was an effect of time (p < 0.001), but there was no effect of group (p = 0.369) as well as an interaction between time and group (p = 0.423). After 72-h of the recovery intervention, a significant improvement in sprint performance was found in the SHAM group, when compared to baseline. On the other hand, no significant changes in the IPC and control groups were observed throughout the recovery period. Likewise, an effect of time (p < 0.01), but not of group (p = 0.396) nor interaction between time and group (p = 0.642) on agility performance was found. At 24-h after the recovery intervention, there was a significant drop in agility performance in the SHAM and control groups, when compared to the baseline moment, returning to baseline values 48-h after the intervention. On the other hand, no significant changes in the IPC group were observed throughout the recovery period. The perception of recovery was affected 24-h after the recovery intervention in the IPC group, when compared to the baseline moment, returning to the baseline value 48-h later. The other variables did not show significant differences (p > 0.05) within and between groups. Therefore, IPC does not prove to be an effective strategy for recovering performance after a simulated football match.