A razão do pico de torque entre a musculatura agonista e antagonista de flexão de joelhos como um dos possíveis indicadores de desempenho em jogos de atletas de futebol feminino

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Women's football has developed over the years, with the increase in investments by clubs and confederations, which reflect, for example, the mandatory inclusion of women's teams in Brazil. Studies have explored eventual relationships between some variables and the occurrence of injuries, such as the isokinetic strength test of the lower limbs, especially the ratio of peak torque between the agonist and antagonist muscles (ham/qua) of knee flexors. In addition, the studies about external load have gained space over the years, relating physical tests to performance in this assessment. However, there is no data in the literature about the relation between ham/qua with external load metrics of official games in women's soccer. Therefore, the objective of this study is to search for new information about the ham/qua relationship with external load variables in official elite female soccer games. METHODOLOGY: The ham/qua of the two legs (total), the left and right legs of 15 football athletes (23.20 ± 6.05 years), who were called up for the main women's football competitions in the U- 20 category (2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup) and professional category (Games of the XXXI Olympiad Rio 2016), in 2016, were related to the external load data (total distance covered, pace, number of accelerations and decelerations, distance covered in acceleration and deceleration, number of changes directions to the right and left sides) of the official matches that played in those competitions. The data were correlated using Pearson's correlation (when Shapiro-Wilk's normality assumption was met) or Spearman's correlation (when Shapiro-Wilk's normality assumption was not met). Significant correlations were considered when p<0.05. RESULTS: There no significant correlations were found between external load and ham/qua. variables in the total group of athletes, in the subgroups of athletes above and below average age, and the subgroup of athletes below average ham/qua. total average. The subgroup of athletes with the ham/qua. total above the mean of the total group, very high negative correlations were found between the pace and the ham/qua. total (R = -0.782; p = 0.04) and ham/qua. left leg (R = -0.797; p = 0.03). Furthermore, very high positive correlations between the total distance covered with the ham/qua. left leg (R = 0.787; p = 0.04), and the number changes of direction to the left side with the ham/qua. left leg (R = 0.754; p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: The ham/qua, eventually, could be used as one of the performance indicators of official matches in women's football athletes at the national team level, in the parameters of pace, distance covered, and the number of changes directions to the left. In addition, our results show that this prediction would not be linked to age, but a lower torque imbalance between the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles.