Relationship between Objective and Subjective Fatigue Monitoring Tests in Professional Soccer

João Lourenço; Élvio Rúbio Gouveia; Hugo Sarmento; Andreas Ihle; Tiago Ribeiro; Ricardo Henriques; Francisco Martins; Cíntia França; Ricardo Maia Ferreira; Luís Fernandes; Pedro Teques; Daniel Duarte

doi:10.3390/ijerph20021539

Relationship between Objective and Subjective Fatigue Monitoring Tests in Professional Soccer

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 14;20(2):1539. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021539.

Authors

João Lourenço¹, Élvio Rúbio Gouveia^{2

3

4}, Hugo Sarmento⁵, Andreas Ihle^{4

6

7}, Tiago Ribeiro⁸, Ricardo Henriques⁹, Francisco Martins^{2

3}, Cíntia França^{2

3

10}, Ricardo Maia Ferreira^{1

11}, Luís Fernandes¹, Pedro Teques¹, Daniel Duarte¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Center of the Polytechnic Institute of Maia (N2i), Maia Polytechnic Institute (IPMAIA), Castêlo da Maia, 4475-690 Maia, Portugal.
² Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
³ LARSYS, Interactive Technologies Institute, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
⁴ Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
⁵ Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity (CIDAF), Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES-Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸ Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1499-002 Lisbon, Portugal.
⁹ Marítimo da Madeira-Futebol, SAD, 9020-208 Funchal, Portugal.
¹⁰ Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences, and Human Development (CIDESD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
¹¹ Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Technology of Coimbra (ESTeSC), Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra (IPC), São Martinho do Bispo, 3045-093 Coimbra, Portugal.

Abstract

Studying fatigue is challenging because it is influenced by physiological, psychological, and sociological states. Fatigue can be assessed objectively or subjectively, but the literature has difficulty understanding how an analytical test relates to a response via a questionnaire. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between objective fatigue variables (Squat Jump (SJ) and Countermovement Jump (CMJ)) measured on day-2 to the game and subjective fatigue (Rating Perceived Exertion (RPE) measured on day-3 to the game and Hooper Index (HI) measured on day-2). The sample comprised 32 professional football players from the First Portuguese League aged 25.86 ± 3.15 years. The Spearman correlations and regression analyses were used to study the relationships between the variables. The results showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) but small correlations (0.113−0.172) between several objective metrics and the subjective metrics evaluated. In addition, we found two weak models with statistical significance (p < 0.05) between the dependent objective variables (contact time, height, and elasticity index) and the HI (R2 = 3.7%) and RPE (R2 = 1.6%). Also, nine statistically significant (p < 0.05) but weak models were observed between the subjective dependent variables (HI and RPE) and contact time (R2 = 1.8−2.7%), flight time (R2 = 1.1−1.9%), height (R2 = 1.2−2.3%), power (R2 = 1.4%), pace (R2 = 1.2−2.1%), and elasticity index (R2 = 1.6%). In conclusion, objective and subjective fatigue-monitoring tests in professional soccer do not measure identical but rather complementary aspects of fatigue, and therefore, both need to be considered to gain a holistic perspective.

Keywords: fatigue; football; monitorization; vertical jump; well-being questionnaire.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Fatigue / diagnosis
Humans
Posture
Soccer* / physiology

Grants and funding

We acknowledge support from the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES—Overcoming vulnerability: life course perspectives, which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number: 51NF40-185901). Moreover, A.I. acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number: 10001C_189407). C.F., F.M. and E.R.G. acknowledge support from LARSyS—Portuguese national funding agency for science, research, and technology (FCT) pluriannual funding 2020–2023 (Reference: UIDB/50009/2020). This study was framed in the Marítimo Training Lab Project. The project received funding under application no. M1420-01-0247-FEDER-000033 in the System of Incentives for the Production of Scientific and Technological Knowledge in the Autonomous Region of Madeira—PROCiência 2020.