All team sports apart from American Football reported a greater frequency of high and very high intensity decelerations compared to accelerations. Importantly, the damaging consequences of frequent and intense decelerations imply that specific loading strategies, to inoculate players from negative deceleration outcomes, may be advisable. |
There was a small decrease in the frequency of high and very high intensity accelerations and decelerations from the first to the second half periods of elite competitive match play, suggesting intense accelerations and decelerations could be particularly vulnerable to neuromuscular fatigue and consequently to an exacerbated risk of incurring injury. |
In advancing the specificity of acceleration and deceleration training prescriptions, future research should look to ‘individualise’ and ‘contextualise’ acceleration and deceleration occurrences during match play. |
1 Introduction
2 Methods
2.1 Study Design
2.2 Search Strategy
Key search terms | Related search terms |
---|---|
1. Acceleration/deceleration | accelerat* OR decelerat* OR GPS OR “global positioning system*” OR “GPS output*” OR microtechnology OR “micromechanical-electrical system*” OR microsensor* OR “tracking system*” OR video* OR camera* OR “time-motion” OR “match analysis system” OR “notational analysis” OR “multi-camera system” OR “external load*” OR “external training load*” OR “external intensit*” OR “external work” OR workload* OR “physical performance*” OR “physical demand*” OR “physical exertion” OR acceleromet* OR “inertial measurement unit” OR activit* OR “activity analysis” OR “activity demand” OR “activity profile* OR “movement analysis” OR “movement performance*” OR “movement demand*” OR “movement pattern*” OR “movement profile*” OR velocit* OR “high-velocit*” OR speed* OR “high-speed*” OR “maximal-speed” OR “running intensit*” OR “high-intensit*” OR energ* OR “energy cost*” OR “accelerometer load*” OR “body load*” OR “Player Load*” OR “PlayerLoad*” OR “metabolic power” OR “metabolic load” OR “high power distance” |
2. Team-sport | team-sport* OR “multi-direction*” OR “field sport*” OR “field-based sport*” OR “intermittent sport*” OR soccer OR ‘‘soccer player*’’ OR footballer* OR ‘‘football player*’’ OR futsal OR ‘‘futsal player*’’ OR rugby OR ‘‘rugby football*’’ OR ‘‘rugby player*’’ OR ‘‘rugby football player*’’ OR ‘‘rugby union’’ OR ‘‘rugby union player*’’ OR ‘‘rugby league’’ OR ‘‘rugby league player*’’ OR “rugby sevens” OR “rugby sevens player” OR “American football*” OR “American football player” OR “national collegiate athletic association*” OR NCAA OR ‘‘Australian rules football*’’ OR ‘‘Australian football*’’ OR ‘‘Australian rules football player*’’ OR ‘‘Australian football player*’’ OR AFL OR ‘‘Gaelic football*’’ OR ‘‘Gaelic football player*’’ OR hurling OR ‘‘hurling player*’’ OR hurler* OR basketball OR basketballer* OR ‘‘basketball player*’’ OR handball* OR ‘‘handball player*’’ OR handballer* OR hockey OR ‘‘hockey player*’’ OR lacrosse OR ‘‘lacrosse player*’’ OR netball OR ‘‘netball player*’’ OR netballer* |
3. Match-play | match-play* OR “match activit*” OR “match analysis” OR “match performance*” OR “match demand*” OR “match running” OR “match intensit*” OR “match event*” OR “match profile*” OR “match schedule*” OR competit* OR “competitive performance” OR “competitive demand*” OR “competitive matches” OR “competitive season” OR “competition schedule” OR game* OR “game play*” OR “game activit*” OR “game analysis” OR “game performance*” OR “game demand*” OR “game intensit*” |
Search phase | 1 AND 2 AND 3 |
2.3 Screening Strategy and Study Selection
2.4 Data Extraction
Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria | |
---|---|---|
1 | Original research articles | Reviews, magazines, surveys, opinion pieces, books, periodicals, editorials, conference abstracts, non-academic/non-peer-reviewed text |
2 | Field-based team sports or court-based invasion games | Striking and fielding games (cricket, baseball), net and wall games (badminton, tennis, volleyball) and ice-, sand- or water-based team sports |
3 | Competitive able-bodied elite athletesa | Athletes with physical or mental disability, athletes competing outside of the top 3 tiers in their sport, match officials |
4 | Participants with mean age ≥ 18 years | Participants with mean age < 18 years |
5 | Competitive match play rules (i.e. full-sized court/pitch, regulation number of players) | Training and small-sided games, non-competitive matches (friendlies), match simulations |
6 | GPS systems (with sampling frequency ≥ 5 Hz) | GPS units (with sampling frequency of < 5 Hz), any non-GPS system (e.g. digital video-based tracking) |
7 | Reported both higher (> 2.5 m·s−2) intensity acceleration and deceleration events separately and concurrently | Reported just acceleration or deceleration events in isolation, combined acceleration and deceleration variables into one metric (e.g. average acceleration, velocity change load, acceleration load, high-intensity efforts, explosive distance), no high-intensity thresholds reported, did not report acceleration or deceleration events (i.e. focus was on other locomotor related variables, e.g. sprinting, high-intensity running, metabolic power) |
8 | Reported data for full match durationb | Reported only part of a match (i.e. first half, extra-time) |
9 | Full text available in English | Cannot access full text in English |
10 | Data set used in one studyc | Studies using the same data set from an earlier publication (salami slicing) |
2.5 Missing Data
2.6 Assessment of Risk of Bias
2.7 Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results
3 Results
3.1 Search Results
3.2 Study Characteristics
Study | Sport | Position (n) | Sample | Competition details | Classification of eliteness | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | Age (years) | Body mass (kg) | Stature (cm) | Type | Year | Matches (n) | Files (n) | ||||
Coutts et al. [43] | AuF | TB | 39 | 25 ± 3 | 89 ± 9 | 188 ± 7 | Australian Football League | NR, 2 seasons | 19 | 35 | Successful elite |
MB | 70 | ||||||||||
MID | 145 | ||||||||||
TF | 23 | ||||||||||
MF | 48 | ||||||||||
RKS | 21 | ||||||||||
Johnston et al. [44] | AuF | MID | 30 | 24 ± 3 | 89 ± 9 | 187 ± 7 | Australian Football League | 2011–2012 | 1–29 | 278 | Successful elite |
FF | 31 | ||||||||||
FD | 86 | ||||||||||
RKS | 24 | ||||||||||
Wellman et al. [42] | AmF | WR | 33 | 21 ± 1 | 91 ± 12 | 186 ± 11 | NCAA Division 1 | 2014 | 12 | 41 | World class elite |
RB | 98 ± 10 | 182 ± 2 | 41 | ||||||||
QB | 93 ± 2 | 192 ± 2 | 12 | ||||||||
TE | 115 ± 7 | 197 ± 1 | 21 | ||||||||
OL | 137 ± 5 | 192 ± 4 | 38 | ||||||||
DB | 86 ± 6 | 183 ± 5 | 55 | ||||||||
DT | 135 ± 0 | 191 ± 0 | 17 | ||||||||
DE | 119 ± 6 | 193 ± 4 | 33 | ||||||||
LB | 106 ± 3 | 186 ± 3 | 36 | ||||||||
Morencos et al. [18] | HK | BK (5) | 16 | 26 ± 3 | 75 ± 6 | 177 ± 5 | Spanish Hockey Premier League | NR, 2 seasons | 17 | 45 | Competitive elite |
MID (6) | 42 | ||||||||||
FOR (5) | 26 | ||||||||||
Cummins et al. [29] | RL | ADJ (4) | 18 | 25 ± 4 | 99 ± 7 | 185 ± 7 | National Rugby League | 2013 | NR | 74 | World class elite |
HUF (3) | 36 | ||||||||||
OB (4) | 59 | ||||||||||
WRF (7) | 104 | ||||||||||
Dempsey et al. [45] | RL | FOR (37) | 57 | 30 ± 4 | 103 ± 7 | 188 ± 5 | Four Nations | 2011–12 | 6 | 37 | World class elite |
BK (20) | 26 ± 4 | 92 ± 6 | 182 ± 6 | 20 | |||||||
Kempton et al. [46] | RL | ADJ | 25 | 25 ± 4 | 99 ± 8 | 185 ± 6 | National Rugby League | 2010–11 | 39 | 118 | World class elite |
HUF | 52 | ||||||||||
OB | 121 | ||||||||||
WRF | 93 | ||||||||||
Oxendale et al. [47] | RL | BK | 17 | 25 ± 4 | 99 ± 10 | 184 ± 6 | English Super League | 2014 | 4 | 11 | World class elite |
FOR | 17 | ||||||||||
Furlan et al. [49] | RS | Team | 12 | 22 ± 3 | 90 ± 9 | 185 ± 6 | IRB World Series | 2013–14 | 6 | 21 | Successful elite |
Higham et al. [48] | RS | Team | 19 | 21 ± 3 | 90 ± 7 | 181 ± 5 | IRB World Series | NR | 11 | 75 | Successful elite |
Domestic | 16 | 99 | |||||||||
Suarez-Arrones et al. [36] | RS | Team | 12 | 27 ± 2 | 86 ± 9 | 182 ± 7 | 2 International tournaments | NR | NR | 30 | Successful elite |
Cunningham et al. [50], senior | RU | FR | 27 | 26 ± 2 | 119 ± 5 | 186 ± 4 | Six Nations | 2014–15 | 8 | 97 | World class elite |
SR | 26 ± 3 | 117 ± 5 | 199 ± 2 | ||||||||
BR | 26 ± 3 | 118 ± 10 | 190 ± 3 | ||||||||
HB | 24 ±3 | 89 ± 5 | 180 ± 6 | ||||||||
CTR | 26 ± 1 | 102 ± 7 | 190 ± 4 | ||||||||
B3 | 25 ± 3 | 92 ± 2 | 184 ± 4 | ||||||||
Cunningham et al. [50], under 20 | RU | FR | 43 | 20 ± 1 | 112 ± 6 | 184 ± 3 | Six Nations; Junior World Cup | 2014–15 | 15 | 161 | Successful elite |
SR | 20 ± 1 | 115 ± 4 | 200 ± 2 | ||||||||
BR | 20 ± 0 | 102 ± 4 | 188 ± 3 | ||||||||
HB | 20 ± 0 | 84 ± 4 | 176 ± 2 | ||||||||
CTR | 20 ± 1 | 96 ± 7 | 183 ± 5 | ||||||||
B3 | 20 ± 1 | 90 ± 5 | 184 ± 4 | ||||||||
Jones et al. [41] | RU | Team | 33 | 25 ± 4 | 104 ± 11 | NR | European Cup; Celtic League | 2012–13 | 13 | 71 | World class elite |
Akenhead et al. [16] | SOC | Team | 36 | 19 ± 1 | 80 ± 7 | 183 ± 5 | English Premier League Reserve | 2010–11 | 18 | 648 | World class elite |
De Hoyo et al. [10] | SOC | Team | 7 | 18 ± 1 | 76 ± 7 | 180 ± 2 | Spanish First League | NR | 1 | 7 | World class elite |
Russell et al. [19] | SOC | Team | 5 | 21 ± 1 | 70 ± 2 | 177 ± 3 | English PL Reserve Team | 2013 | 1 | 5 | World class elite |
Russell et al. [17] | SOC | Team | 11 | 20 ± 1 | 71 ± 4 | 180 ± 10 | English Premier League Reserve | 2013–14 | 19 (6 ± 4 per player) | 76 | World class elite |
Tierney et al. [51] | SOC | WD (10) | 46 | 20 ± 3 | 80 ± 6 | 179 ± 5 | Under 21 and Under 18 English Football League | 2014–15 | 42 | 420 | Successful elite |
CD (9) | 378 | ||||||||||
WM (9) | 378 | ||||||||||
CM (10) | 420 | ||||||||||
FW (8) | 336 | ||||||||||
Wehbe et al. [20] | SOC | DEF (6) | 19 | 26 ± 5 | 80 ± 5 | 183 ± 5 | Australian A-League | 2011–12 | 8 | 48 | Successful elite |
MID (9) | 26 ± 6 | 75 ± 4 | 178 ± 5 | 54 | |||||||
FOR (4) | 26 ± 5 | 81 ± 4 | 183 ± 7 | 32 |
3.3 Measurement of High-Intensity Accelerations and Decelerations
Study | GPS device | Data collection | Data processing | Thresholds (m·s−2) | Risk of bias | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brand | Model | Software version | SF (Hz) | SAT (n) | HDP (n) | Variables measured | MED (s) | Raw/software | High | Very high | A | B | C | |||
Australian Football | ||||||||||||||||
Coutts et al. [43] | Catapult Sports | NI | Sprint v5.0.6 | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | 0.2 | Raw | > 2.78 | ? | + | + | |||
Johnston et al. [44] | Catapult Sports | MinimaxX S3 and S4 | Sprint v5.0.9 | 5 and 10 | 12 | 1 | F (n) | NR | Software | > 2.78 | + | ? | + | |||
D (m) | ||||||||||||||||
T (s) | ||||||||||||||||
American Football | ||||||||||||||||
Wellman et al. [42] | GPSports | SPI HPU | Team AMS | 5a | NR | NR | F (n) | NI NR | Software | 2.6–3.5 | > 3.5 | ? | ? | + | ||
Hockey | ||||||||||||||||
Morencos et al. [18] | GPSports | SPI Elite | Team AMS v.R1.215.3 | 10 | NR | NR | F (n·min−1) | NR | Software | > 3 | − | ? | + | |||
Rugby league | ||||||||||||||||
Cummins et al. [29] | GPSports | SPI-ProX | NI | 5a | NR | NR | F (n·min−1) | NR | Raw | > 2.78 | − | ? | ? | |||
Dempsey et al. [45] | GPSports | SPI-ProX | Team AMS vR1 2012.4 | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | NR | Software | > 3 | ? | ? | ? | |||
F (n·min−1) | ||||||||||||||||
Kempton et al. [46] | GPSports | SPI-Pro | Team AMS vR1 2012.1 | 5 | 9 | NR | F (n) | 0.4 | Raw | > 2.78 | ? | + | + | |||
Oxendale et al. [47] | Catapult Sports | MinimaxX | Team 2.5 | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | NR | NR | > 2.79 | − | ? | ? | |||
Rugby sevens | ||||||||||||||||
Furlan et al. [49] | GPSports | SPI-HPU | Labview 2011b | 5a | NR | NR | F (n·min−1) | NR | Raw | 3–4 | > 4 | − | ? | − | ||
Higham et al. [48] | Catapult Sports | MinimaxX | Team Sport v2.5 | 5 | NR | NR | F (n·min−1) | NR | Software | > 4 | − | + | ? | |||
Suarez-Arrones et al. [36] | GPSports | SPI-ProX | Team AMS R1 2013.9 | 5a | NR | NR | F (n) | 1 | Software | > 2.78 | > 4 | − | + | − | ||
Rugby union | ||||||||||||||||
Cunningham et al. [50] U20 | STATSports | Viper Pod | Viper PSA | 10 | 4 | NR | F (n) | NR | Software | 3–4 | > 4 | + | ? | + | ||
Cunningham et al. [50] Senior | STATSports | Viper Pod | Viper PSA | 10 | 4 | NR | F (n) | NR | Software | 3–4 | > 4 | + | ? | ? | ||
Jones et al. [41] | Catapult Sports | MinimaxX v4.0 | Sprint | 10 | NR | NR | D (m) | NR | Software | > 3 | ? | ? | ? | |||
Soccer | ||||||||||||||||
Akenhead et al. [16] | Catapult Sports | MinimaxX | Logan Plus v4.5 | 10 | 13 | 0.8 | D (m) | NR | Raw | > 3 | + | ? | ? | |||
De Hoyo et al. [10] | GPSports | SPI Elite | Team AMS | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | NR | Software | > 3 | ? | ? | − | |||
Russell et al. [19] | STATSports | Viper Pod | Viper PSA | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | 0.5 | Software | > 3 | ? | + | − | |||
Russell et al. [17] | STATSports | Viper Pod | Viper PSA | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | 0.5 | Software | > 3 | ? | + | − | |||
Tierney et al. [51] | STATSports | NI | NI | 10 | NR | NR | F (n) | NR | NR | > 3 | − | − | + | |||
Wehbe et al. [20] | GPSports | SPI-Pro | NI | 5 | NR | NR | F (n) | 0.5 | NR | 2.5–4 | > 4 | − | ? | ? |
3.4 Risk of Bias
3.5 Meta-Analysis: Frequency of High-Intensity Accelerations and Decelerations
Meta-analysis | Sub-group | Number of estimates | Number of GPS files | Between-group I2 (%) | Within-group I2 (%) | Qualitative descriptor | P value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frequency of high-intensity accelerations and decelerations | 67 | 5220 | 99 | High | < 0.00001 | ||
American Football | 9 | 294 | 0 | Low | 0.9 | ||
Australian Football | 11 | 1180 | 85 | High | < 0.0001 | ||
Hockey | 4 | 226 | 0 | Low | 0.51 | ||
Rugby league | 14 | 799 | 87 | High | < 0.0001 | ||
Rugby sevens | 2 | 51 | 97 | High | < 0.0001 | ||
Rugby union | 16 | 516 | 57 | Moderate | 0.003 | ||
Soccer | 11 | 2154 | 97 | High | < 0.0001 | ||
Frequency of very high intensity accelerations and decelerations | 32 | 1169 | 94 | High | < 0.00001 | ||
American Football | 9 | 294 | 92 | High | < 0.00001 | ||
Rugby sevens | 4 | 225 | 95 | High | < 0.00001 | ||
Rugby union | 16 | 516 | 31 | Moderate | 0.11 | ||
Soccer | 3 | 134 | 89 | High | < 0.00001 | ||
Temporal changes in frequency of accelerations | 8 | 373 | 0 | Low | 0.93 | ||
High intensity | 5 | 227 | 0 | Low | 0.45 | ||
Very high intensity | 3 | 146 | 0 | Low | 0.82 | ||
Temporal changes in frequency of decelerations | 8 | 373 | 0 | Low | 0.72 | ||
High intensity | 5 | 227 | 53 | Moderate | 0.08 | ||
Very high intensity | 3 | 146 | 34 | Moderate | 0.22 |