DESEMPENHO DE ATLETAS PROFISSIONAIS DE FUTEBOL FEMININO NA EXECUÇÃO DOS TESTES STEP DOWN E SINGLE LEG HOP TEST

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Female soccer athletes are target of musculoskeletal injuries in a proportional way to the intensity and level of competitiveness. They have a higher prevalence of lower limb injuries, which are related to knee valgus. The evaluations made through functional tests such as the Step-Down and the Single Leg Hop Test are an important method for identifying the movement that may interfere with the athletes’ performance during the games. Objective: To evaluate the performance of female soccer athletes during the execution of the Step-Down and Single Leg Hop Tests. Methods: The study has a cross-sectional design. It was carried out with a sample composed of 26 female soccer athletes and it was characterized by a sample characterization form. The functional evaluation was performed by the symmetry index in the Single Hop Test and the Step-Down Test. Results: The average age of the athletes was 21.38 years old (±3.82), they have been practicing the sport for 10 (±5.02) years and trained for 2 (±1) hours a day on 6(±2) days a week; 57.7% had a history of sports-related injuries. There was no statistically significant difference between the dominant and non-dominant limb for the mean distance (p=0.773) and normalized distance (p=0.678) in the Single Leg Hop Test. There were no statistically significant differences between the dominant and non-dominant limb for the degree of changes for pelvis drop (p=0.442) and hip adduction (p=0.390) in the Step-Down Test. Conclusion: The athletes obtained good performance with LSI in the Single Leg Hop Test and low performance in the Step-Down Test due to balance alterations in pelvic drop and knee adduction. There was no significant difference in the improvement of performance in relation to lower limb dominance in both tests.

Keywords: Football. Women. Physiotherapy. Trauma in Athletes.