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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sports Coaching: Performance and Development
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1409257

Persistence and activity levels of primitive reflexes in young high-level football players

Provisionally accepted
Julie Bastiere Julie Bastiere 1,2,3*Thibault Lussiana Thibault Lussiana 2,4,5Damien Young Damien Young 6Gindre Cyrille Gindre Cyrille 2,5,7Laurent Mourot Laurent Mourot 2,8
  • 1 SINERGIES, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
  • 2 University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
  • 3 Other, Troyes, France
  • 4 Research and Developlment Departement, Volodalen, Chavéria, France
  • 5 Research and Development Department, Volodalen SwissSportLab, Aigle, Switzerland
  • 6 Athlone Institute of Technology, Athlone, Ireland
  • 7 Research and Development Department, Volodalen, Chavéria, France
  • 8 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Primitive reflexes (PR) induce involuntary automatic movements in response to specific stimuli. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of active PR in young high-level football players. Sixty-nine National level football players from a French academy have been tested (17.0 ± 1.4 years; 69.6 ± 8.0 kg; 178.9 ± 6.9 cm) to evaluate the persistence of PR, following the methodology of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) and the classification by a global score (GS). Based on the sum of 7 tests, each were rated between 0=null and 4=max. The GS is classified into 5 categories from no activity to maximal (0 -1 = no activity, 2 -7 = low, 8 -13 = medium, 14 -21 = high, and 22 -28 = maximal). Around two-thirds (68.1%) of players presented active PR at different activity levels. Amongst them, a low proportion (7.2%) had medium GS, while 60.9% had a low GS. The GS was not dependent on field position or the age of the players (p>0.05). However, playing football in an age category higher than their own was associated with significantly more active primitive reflexes (PR) compared to being in their age category (p<0.01). The results showed that 72.7% of "upgraded" football players had low GS, and 18.2% had medium GS, compared to 55.3% and 2.1% in the non-upgraded group. The findings of the current study demonstrate that in a healthy population of high-level football players, PR could still be active. Practicing a single sport for years and upgrading players could create a negative environment that can ultimately lead to the activation of otherwise integrated PR.

    Keywords: Primitive reflexes, Neurosciece, Football, score reflex, neurodevelopment

    Received: 29 Mar 2024; Accepted: 27 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Bastiere, Lussiana, Young, Cyrille and Mourot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Julie Bastiere, SINERGIES, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.