Cervical Motor Control Exercises in Strength and Perception of Effort in Electronic Sports Players

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Sports Physical Therapy
• Interventions: Other: Control motor intervention

• Registration Number: NCT04258124
• Lead Sponsor: Investigación en Hemofilia y Fisioterapia

Brief Summary

Introduction. One of the most common injuries in competitive esports professionals is dorsolumbar and neck pain, due to the effort caused by the maintenance of the site for long periods of time. Cervical motor control exercises recruit the deep musculature by increasing its strength and reducing muscle fatigue.

Aim. Evaluate the effectiveness of motor control exercises in cervical muscle fatigue and strength, in electronic athletes from 18 to 25 years.

Study design. Randomized clinical trial, simple blind. Methods. 30 electronic athletes will be randomly assigned in two groups: experimental (which will perform 3 sessions of 3 motor control exercises) and control (which will not perform any type of intervention). The intervention will last 6 weeks, with 3 weekly sessions of 10 minutes each. The study variables are the muscle strength of the deep cervical muscle (measured by a stabilizer pressure gauge) and the subjective perception of the effort (Borg scale).

Expected results. The aim is an improvement in the muscular strength of deep cervical muscles, together with a decrease in subjective perception of exertion.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-02-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-02-05
• Study First Posted: 2020-02-06
• Status Verified: 2020-09
• Study Start: 2020-09-24
• Last Update Submitted: 2020-09-25
• Last Update Posted: 2020-09-29
• Primary Completion: 2020-11-20
• Study Completion: 2020-12-10

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: Male
• Target Recruitment: 20

Inclusion Criteria

• Electronic sportsmen
• Male sex
• From 18 to 25 years
• That at the time of the study participate in national competitions
• That they have not suffered a musculoskeletal pathology in the last 4 months.

Exclusion Criteria

• Athletes taking anti-inflammatory drugs that may influence the intervention
• Players who are allergic to nylon (main component of the evaluation device)
• That they have not signed the informed consent document.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Experimental group	Control motor intervention	Each session will last 10 minutes, taking place 3 days a week, over a period of 6 weeks. The intervention will take place at the beginning of the training session. The intervention will be carried out in 3 sessions with 3 exercises of 15 repetitions, and with breaks of 40 seconds between each series and exercise. Exercise 1. In quadruped position, keeping the back flat, making an isometric contraction of the transverse muscle, and raising one arm and one leg contralaterally. Exercise 2. Training of the deep cervical flexor muscles, supine. Players will move their heads slowly towards craniocervical flexion. Exercise 3. In standing position, an ocular-cervical coordination exercise by means of a cranio-cervical flexion, adding a rotation, guided by an eye feedback provided by the physiotherapist by means of a laser projected on a wall.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change from baseline strength of the deep cervical musculature after treatment and at 1 month	Screening visit, within the first seven days after treatment and after one month follow-up visit	An assessment will be carried out with a pressure gauge (Stabilizer model). It will be used according to the protocol indicated by Hudswell et al. The athlete will be positioned supine. The pressure gauge will be placed on the stretcher in the posterior cervical area, asking the subject for a craniocervical flexion. The unit of measure of this measuring instrument is mmHg. A higher score indicates greater strength.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change from baseline subjective perception of effort after treatment and at 1 month	Screening visit, within the first seven days after treatment and after one month follow-up visit	It will be done by administering the Borg scale. With this scale, the perception of effort will be measured. After the intervention, we will ask the athlete to assign a number from 0 to 10 to represent the subjective feeling of the amount of work done. The scoring range is from 0 to 10 points, where a higher score will indicate a greater perception of effort.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

European University of Madrid; 🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain