The Effect of a Simulated Basketball Game on Players’ Sprint and Jump Performance, Temperature and Muscle Damage

Abstract

Despite extensive data regarding the demands of playing basketball, the relative importance of factors that cause fatigue and muscle potentiation has been explored only tentatively and remains unclear. The aim of this experimental field study was to assess changes in leg muscle power and relate these changes to body temperature modifications and indices of exercise-induced muscle damage in response to a simulated basketball game. College-level male basketball players (n=10) were divided into two teams to play a simulated basketball game. Ten-meter sprint and vertical counter-movement jump tests, core body temperature and creatine-kinase activity were measured within 48 h after the game. The participants’ body temperatures increased after a warm-up (1.9%, p<0.05), continued to increase throughout the game, and reached 39.4 ± 0.4ºC after the fourth quarter (p<0.05). The increase in temperature during the warm-up was accompanied by an improvement in the 10-meter sprint time (5.5%, p<0.05) and jump height (3.8%, p<0.05). The players were able to maintain leg power up to the fourth quarter, i.e., during the major part of the basketball game. There was a significant increase in creatine-kinase at 24 h (>200%, p<0.05) and 48 h (>30%, p<0.05) after the game, indicating damage to the players’ muscles. The basketball players’ sprint and jump performance appear to be at least in part associated with body temperature changes, which might contribute to counteract fatigue during the larger part of a basketball game.

Plasma Actin, Gelsolin and Orosomucoid Levels after Eccentric Exercise

“…Like in other studies after eccentric exercise, plasma CK activity (Stäubli et al, 1985), as a non-specific marker of EIMD (Brancaccio et al, 2007, 2010), reached the maximal value at 24 h, 48 h, 96 h after training (Kanda et al, 2014; Pliauga et al, 2015) or during exertion in the ultra-marathon runners (Jastrzebski et al, 2015). …”

Influence of competition on performance factors in under-19 soccer players at national league level

“…The reason for the lack of such a difference could be considered to result from the nonexistence of the repeated sprints because of the position of goalkeepers during the match [10]. However, even though the distance of 10 m has been studied in other sports, such as basketball [17], it is important to emphasise that these results cannot be compared with our findings since our distance of 10 m was measured at the end of the 40-m test (between 30 m and 40 m) and therefore represented a full speed.…”

“…It has also been demonstrated [14] that forwards obtain better results for the 30 meter sprint and vertical jump than other playing positions. In that sense, the acute effect of fatigue on jumps post-match has also been demonstrated in other sports such as handball [15] and rugby [16], but not in basketball [17].…”

Effects of Different Half-Time Re-Warm Up on Vertical Jump During Simulated Basketball Game

“…Player substitutions were not allowed, and the players stayed in the game even when they had five fouls. This protocol of simulated basketball game was established previously (Pliauga et al, 2015).…”