Heart rates were monitored and time-motion analysis performed for 10 players (mean age 25.6 years, s = 2.5; body mass 73.8 kg, s = 5.7 kg; height 1.75 m, s = 0.06) during four competitive futsal matches. Mean heart rate during the match was 90% (s = 2) of maximum heart rate. Heart rate records were classified based on the percentage of time spent in three zones (>85%, 85-65%, and <65% maximum heart rate); players spent 83%, 16%, and 0.3% in these three zones, respectively. During the second period, there was a significant reduction (P < 0.01) in the percentage of time spent at an intensity above 85% of maximum heart rate (first vs. second period: 86% vs. 79%). Players' movements were classified as standing, walking, jogging, medium-intensity running, high-intensity running, and sprinting (maximal speed running). Time-motion analysis indicated that the mean distance covered per minute of play was 117.3 m (s = 11.6), of which 28.5% (s = 2.2) was covered while performing medium-intensity running, 13.7% (s = 2) during high-intensity running, and 8.9% (s=3.4) while sprinting. From the results, we conclude that futsal is a multiple-sprints sport in which there are more high-intensity phases than in soccer and other intermittent sports.

Information on the nature of deficits and adaptive mechanisms occurring after spinal cord injury is essential to the design of strategies for promoting functional recovery. Motor impairments and compensations were quantified by three-dimensional kinematic analysis in freely walking rats, 6 months after mild cervical (C7) or moderate lumbar (L2) spinal cord contusion. After C7 contusion, the animals showed reduced elbow extension and wrist movement, whereas reduced knee extension was the main impairment after L2 contusion. In both cases, the duration of the walking cycle increased and forward velocity was reduced due to a longer stance phase. Histology revealed reproducible lesions extending approximately to one spinal cord segment. In the transverse plane, the lesion involved the central gray matter and adjacent axons, including the dorsal corticospinal tract, but partially spared the ventrolateral tracts. Retrograde motoneuron tracing by nerve exposure to HRP or intramuscular injection of aminostilbamidine demonstrated that C7 contusion caused the loss of approximately 40% of triceps brachii motoneurons, whereas approximately 30% of quadriceps femoris motoneurons were lost after L2 contusion. These results demonstrate permanent deficits after incomplete lesions at the spinal cord enlargements and suggest that motoneuron loss contributes to their production.

Although flexibility field tests are commonly used in research, sport, and school settings, there is no conclusive evidence about what they actually assess. The first aim of this study was to assess the contributions of the main joints involved in the back-saver sit-and-reach test using angular kinematic analysis. The second aim was to measure the inter-method agreement between the back-saver sit-and-reach test and the sit-and-reach test. A total of 138 adolescents (57 females, 81 males) aged 14.5 +/- 1.7 years performed the back-saver sit-and-reach test and the sit-and-reach test. Hip, lumbar, and thoracic angles were assessed by angular kinematic analysis while the participants were performing the back-saver sit-and-reach test. Stepwise linear regression models and the Bland-Altman method were used. The hip angle independently explained 42% (P < 0.001) of the variance in the back-saver sit-and-reach test, the lumbar angle explained an additional 30% (P < 0.001) of the variance, and the thoracic angle an additional 4% (P < 0.001). The inter-method mean difference between back-saver sit-and-reach (BSSR) and sit-and-reach (SR) measures (BSSR - SR) was 0.41 cm (P = 0.21). The results suggest that hip flexibility is the main determinant of the back-saver sit-and-reach test score in adolescents, followed by lumbar flexibility. The back-saver sit-and-reach test can therefore be considered an appropriate and valid test for assessing hip and low-back flexibility in this age group. The back-saver sit-and-reach and sit-and-reach tests provide comparable values.

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