Influence of osteopathic correction on sports achievements of racing athletes

Abstract

Introduction. A power and speed abilities are the important qualities of athletes, including racing athletes, and a slight improvement of these qualities can contribute to the achievement of sport success. This can be achieved with an effective and quick recovery of an athlete after physical exertion. In this regard the rational training and regimen, vitamins consumption according with seasonal changes, as well as using of pharmacological drugs affecting energy and plastic processes are traditionally in demand. However stricter anti-doping controls in high-performance sports have significantly limited the use of many pharmacological drugs aimed to speed up recovery of athletes. This circumstance determined the need to search for non-drug methods of effective infl uence on the highly qualified athletes′ organism for contributing to the acceleration of recovery, improving the parameters of the musculoskeletal system and neuromuscular coordination processes. The osteopathic correction of somatic dysfunctions could be such a method. In this regard, it is important to study the osteopathic status of racing athletes, identify common dysfunctions, correct them, and study the effectiveness of osteopathy to achieve optimal recovery of pilots.The goal of research — is to investigate the osteopathic status and the impact of osteopathic correction on the reaction speed of racing athletes.Materials and methods. The study involved 30 professional athletes 15–18 years old, male, participating in races in the youthful formula of the F4 NEZ Championship. The study participants were divided by simple randomization into 2 groups: the experimental (15 people) receiving osteopathic correction for 3 months during the racing season, and the control (15 people) not receiving osteopathic correction. The study was conducted for 3 months. The osteopathic status of racing athletes was assessed before and after osteopathic correction, and the changes in their reaction rate were estimated using the FITLIGHT sensorimotor simulator.Results. The somatic dysfunctions (SD) of the head region, neck region (structural and visceral component), thoracic region (structural and visceral component), lumbar region (structural component), and pelvic region (structural component) were detected in athletes-racers at the study beginning. Differences between the groups in the frequency of detected dysfunctions were statistically insignificant (p>0,05). There was a decrease in the detection of regional SD frequency in the experimental group at the study end after the performed osteopathic correction. On the contrary, the detection frequency of these dysfunctions in the control group increased at the study end. The differences between the groups in the frequency of detected regional dysfunctions became statistically significant (p<0,05). In the experimental group the athletes receiving osteopathic support during the racing season had an improved by 18,5 % (p<0,05) reaction rate at the end of the racing season, and in the control group — without osteopathic support — the improvement was 3 % (p>0,05).Conclusion. There was detected a decrease in the regional SD detection frequency of athletes-racers, and a tendency to improve their reaction speed indicators under the conditions of using osteopathic correction during the racing season of youth formula 4 athletes.