Brauers, Jur

Brink, Michel

den Hartigh, Ruud

Hasselman, Fred

Neumann, Niklas

English

BACKGROUND/AIM: Injuries and health problems of soccer players may appear abruptly and are often unexpected. However, hypotheses from complex systems theory suggest that these events can be preceded by certain Early Warning Signals (EWSs).1 We tested whether injuries and health problems can be anticipated with a specific type of EWS, that is, an increase in dynamic complexity (DC).2METHODS:Over two competitive seasons, we collected psychological and physiological self-reports (i.e., self-efficacy, motivation, mood, rating of own performance, enjoyment, and recovery) and data from heart rate sensors on every training and match day from 14 youth soccer players. We recorded time-loss injuries daily and players filled in the Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2) once a week. We then calculated the DC of the self-reports and sensor data in a seven-day window to test for increased variability and complexity over time before injuries and health problems.RESULTS:Players experienced 5.6 injuries and 8.4 health problems on average across two seasons (range=1-18 and range=2-26, respectively). Results showed that increases in DC could often anticipate the occurrence of injuries and health problems. In 55% and 37% of the players DC increased up to five days before injuries and health problems, respectively (SD=39% and SD=25%, Min=0% and Min=0%, Max=100% and Max=83%).CONCLUSIONS:Results of this study suggest that EWSs can be used for real-time anticipation of injuries and health problems in daily soccer practice. Future research should test for the robustness of these results within and between individuals and perform sensitivity and specificity tests. In addition, finding out how warning signals can be communicated to soccer players and staff is an interesting avenue.REFERENCES1. Den Hartigh RJR, Meerhoff LRA, Van Yperen NW, et al. Resilience in Sports: A Multidisciplinary, Dynamic, and Personalized Perspective. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2022. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.20397492. Olthof M, Hasselman F, Strunk G, et al. Critical Fluctuations as an Early-Warning Signal for Sudden Gains and Losses in Patients Receiving Psychotherapy for Mood Disorders. Clin Psychol Sci. 2020;8(1):25-35. doi:10.1177/2167702619865969<br/

Dissertations of the University of Groningen

   University of GroningenAnticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic ComplexityNeumann, Niklas; Brauers, Jur; Hasselman, Fred; Brink, Michel; den Hartigh, RuudIMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite fromit. Please check the document version below.Document VersionFinal author's version (accepted by publisher, after peer review)Publication date:2023Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research databaseCitation for published version (APA):Neumann, N., Brauers, J., Hasselman, F., Brink, M., & den Hartigh, R. (2023). Anticipating Injuries andHealth Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity. Poster session presented at WorldCongress on Science and Football, Groningen, Netherlands.CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of theauthor(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license.More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne-amendment.Take-down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons thenumber of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.Download date: 11-09-2023• Injuries and health problems of soccer players often appear abruptly and unexpectedly;• Complex systems theory suggest that these events can be preceded by Early Warning Signals (EWSs) [1];• Dynamic complexity (DC) is an EWS reflecting changes in variability and turbulence [2,3];• We tested whether changes in DC, detected in soccer players’ psychophysiological measures, anticipate injuries and health problems.• 14 male players of a Dutch major league (Eredivisie) club were measured on every training and match day over two competitive seasons;• We collected psychological and physiological self-reports on self-efficacy, motivation, mood, rating of performance, enjoyment, recovery (Figure 1), and we used heart rate sensors;• Time-loss injuries and health problems (OSTRC-H2) were the outcome measures;• We calculated the DC of the self-reports and sensor data in a seven-day window to detect increased variability before injuries and health problems occurred.• Players experienced 2.7 injuries and 8.3 health problems on average across two seasons;• In the five days before injuries and health problems, DC increased in 26% and 33% of the payers, respectively (Figure 2).• Results of this study suggest that EWSs can be used for real-time anticipation of injuries and health problems in daily soccer practice;• Future research should test for the robustness of these results within and between individuals and perform sensitivity and specificity tests;• Finding out how warning signals can be communicated to soccer players and staff is an interesting avenue.More InformationFigure 1. Illustration of the tailor-made app that we made to fill out theself-reports on a tablet computer.[1] Den Hartigh RJR, Meerhoff LRA, Van Yperen NW, et al. Resilience in Sports: A Multidisciplinary, Dynamic, and Personalized Perspective. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2022. [2] Olthof M, Hasselman F, Strunk G, et al. Critical Fluctuations as an Early-Warning Signal for Sudden Gains and Losses in Patients Receiving Psychotherapy for Mood Disorders. Clin Psychol Sci. 2020;8(1):25-35. [3] Schiepek, G., & Strunk, G. (2010). The identification of critical fluctuations and phase transitions in short term and coarse-grained time series — a method for the real-time monitoring of human change processes. 197–207. ReferencesThe Projectn.d.neumann@rug.nlNiklas D. NeumannFigure 2. Critical instability plot showing thesignificant cumulative complexity peaks (CCP;i.e., all measured variables together) as blacklines in the top row, and the significantdynamic complexity level for every singlevariable as grey lines in the remaining rows.The data represents one player over twocompetitive seasons. The red circles highlightthe CCPs before the onset of an injury. Thus,an EWS.Anticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity Niklas D. Neumann1, Jur J. Brauers2, Fred Hasselman3, Michel S. Brink2, Ruud J.R. Den Hartigh11Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands2Center for Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands3Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsHow is yourrecovery?2. Methods4. What does this mean?1. Background3. Results

Anticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity

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Anticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity

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