Effect of Position Specific Physiotherapy Training on performance of Indian football players: A Randomized Control Trial

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the effect of Position-Specific Physiotherapy Training on Agility, Speed endurance, and Balance in Indian Football Players. Around 70 football players were approached of which 48 gave consent to participate, and further 30 players sufficing inclusion criteria were recruited. They were divided into three groups, Forwards (Group A, n = 10), Defenders (Group B, n = 10), and Control (Group C, n = 10), according to their On-field Position. These participants underwent Position Specific Physiotherapy Training for 4 weeks. Significant improvement was noted in the Agility of Group A (p ≤ 0.001) and Group B (p ≤ 0.001) as compared to Group C (p = 0.071). Speed Endurance improved for Group A (p ≤0.001) and Group B (p ≤ 0.001) as compared to Group C (p = 0.111). Fatigue Index of Group A (p ≤ 0.001) and Group B (p ≤ 0.001) improved significantly as compared to Group C (p = 0.383). The Balance of Group A (p = 0.0063) and Group B (p = 0.0019) improved significantly as compared to Group C (p = 0.0632). Position-Specific Physiotherapy Training was found to be effective in improving Agility, Speed endurance, and Balance ability of the Indian Football Players.

KEYWORDS:

• Indian football players
• position specific physiotherapy training
• agility
• speed endurance
• balance

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to the participants for their consent and co-operation throughout the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Source of support

Department of Physiotherapy, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth Pune.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.