AUTHOR=Bauer Julian , Hagen Marco , Weisz Nelson , Muehlbauer Thomas 

TITLE=The Influence of Fatigue on Throwing and YBT-UQ Performance in Male Adolescent Handball Players

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.00081

DOI=10.3389/fspor.2020.00081

ISSN=2624-9367

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Purpose:</bold> The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of fatigue on throwing and Upper Quarter Y Balance Test (YBT-UQ) performance in male adolescent handball players. We hypothesized that throwing and YBT-UQ performance will be decreased in response to an upper-body fatigue-protocol.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> All male participants (<italic>N</italic> = 24, age: 14.8 ± 0.7 yrs) were handball players of a regional youth selection team. A radar gun was used for the assessment of throwing velocity. The YBT-UQ was executed assessing medial, inferolateral and superolateral reach directions normalized to the upper limb length together with a composite score. Immediately following a fatigue protocol of different sets of push-ups until failure (i.e., not being able to perform 60% of the initial maximal amount of push-ups), throwing and YBT-UQ performance were assessed again.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Fatigue resulted in a significant decrease in throwing velocity (−3%, <italic>p</italic> = 0.022, <italic>d</italic> = 0.32). Concerning YBT-UQ, the fatigue protocol produced significant decreases for the superolateral reach direction (throwing arm reach: −5%, <italic>p</italic> = 0.017, <italic>d</italic> = 0.39; non-throwing arm reach: −10%, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, <italic>d</italic> = 0.87) and the composite score (throwing arm reach: −2%, <italic>p</italic> = 0.026, <italic>d</italic> = 0.31; non-throwing arm reach: −4%, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001, <italic>d</italic> = 0.52) but not for the medial and the inferolateral reach directions.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Fatigue was found to be an impairing factor for throwing performance and shoulder mobility and stability. Therefore, a lower level of fatigue and/or a higher tolerance of fatigue is desirable. Strength-endurance and mobility exercises especially for the shoulder girdle may be a valuable addition for the training routine of youth handball players.</p>