Cross-Sectional Change of Biological Maturity and Neuromuscular Response Ability in Adolescent Soccer Players

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2118 It has been recognized that during adolescence skilled athletes develop a faster neuromuscular response time than non-athletes. Since large individual differences can appear between skeletal maturity and chronological age (CA), the relationship between skeletal maturity and the development of neuromuscular response is unclear. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to clarify the relation between development of biological maturity and neuromuscular response ability evaluated from reaction time (RT), premotor time (PMT) and negative waveform latency obtained between 150 to 400 msec later from the reaction stimulus at the electroencephalogram (N200). METHODS: Eighteen male adolescent soccer players (age range: 10.3 to 12.9 years) from the Japanese professional soccer club participated in this study. Biological maturity was evaluated from X-ray of left hand and wrist according to skeletal age (SA) using TWII methods. Visual go/no-go task was employed and subjects were asked to respond to the target stimuli by pushing both hand and foot response switches. PMT of the fiexor pollicis longus and gastrocnemius medialis was also measured. N200 was recorded at the central scalp area based on the international 10–20 methods. RESULTS: The RT as measured from the foot switch shortened from 10 to 12 years of age (536.8 ± 51.7, 501.7 ± 108.1, 448.0 ± 33.3 msec respectively) and it showed a stronger correlation to SA (r = −0.67, p<0.01) as compared to CA (p = −0.49, p<0.05). PMT of the hand and foot correlated more significantly to SA (r = −0.62, p<0.01; r = −0.71, p<0.001) than that of CA (r = −0.59, p<0.05; r = −0.59, p<0.05). It was noteworthy that development of N200 had significant correlation to SA (r = −0.51, p<0.05), however it did not well correlate to CA. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate the development of neuromuscular response ability such as premotor time and N200 may be influenced by the development of biological maturity (skeletal age) in adolescent soccer players. In conclusion, considering the biological maturity is necessary to investigate the development of neuromuscular response ability in adolescent.