J Sport Sci Med
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Sports with a predominance of forward-bending and extension postures have been associated with alterations in the sagittal spinal curvatures and greater risk of spinal injury. Because, the tennis players adopt these postures, the aims of this study were: 1) to describe spinal curvatures and pelvic tilt in male and female highly trained adolescent tennis players during relaxed standing posture and with thoracic spine corrected (in prone lying on the floor); and 2) to determine the frequency of thoracic hyperkyphosis and lumbar hypo/hyper lordosis in these postures. Forty adolescent tennis players (24 male and 16 female) aged 13-18 years, participated voluntarily in this study. ⋯ Female tennis players showed statistically significant greater anterior pelvic tilt, lumbar lordosis and lower thoracic kyphosis than male tennis players. The high percentage of neutral thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis posture in both groups of young tennis players in relaxed standing might affirm that tennis does not negatively affect sagittal spinal posture at these ages. A specific postural program could be recommended to improve the slumped sitting and maximal trunk flexion in knees extended postures.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 12 week conditioning programme involving speed, agility and quickness (SAQ) training and its effect on agility performance in young soccer players. Soccer players were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental group (EG; n = 66, body mass: 71.3 ± 5.9 kg; body height: 1.77 ± 0.07 m) and control group (CG; n = 66, body mass: 70.6 ± 4.9 kg; body height: 1.76 ± 0.06 m). ⋯ This suggests that SAQ training is an effective way of improving agility, with and without the ball, for young soccer players and can be included in physical conditioning programmes. Key pointsSAQ training appears to be an effective way of improving agility with and without the ball in young soccer playersSoccer coaches could use this training during pre-season and in-season trainingCompared with pre-training, there was a statistically significant improvement in all but one measure of agility, both with and without the ball after SAQ training.