Acute effects on vertical jump, agility and reaction time of neural mobilizing technique added to warm up exercises for volleyball players aged 15 and over

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of lower extremity neural mobilization technique which is applied to young volleyballers in addition to warming exercise program on reaction time, agility and vertical jump values, which are considered as performance indicators in volleyball. Method: A total of 40 volleyball players (23 male, 17 female) with an average age of 16.50 ± 1.19 years were included in the study. The participants were divided into two groups as dynamic warming group (Group 1; n = 20) and neural mobilization group (Group 2; n = 20) using simple random sampling method. While group I were subjected to dynamic warming exercises, ın group 2, bilateral lower extremity neural mobilization (sciatic nerve, femoral nerve, tibial nerve and peroneal nerve) was performed in addition to dynamic warm up exercises. The athlete's reaction time, agility and vertical jump measurements were made at the beginning and within 5 minutes after the applicatios. Results: At the beginning of the study, the demographic characteristics and the measurements of performance test were similar in both groups and also there was no statistically difference between the two groups (p> 0.05). Whereas vertical jump values increased after the application (p <0.05), there was no altered in reaction time and agility values in both groups compared with first measurements (p> 0.05). In addition, we found that the increase in the vertical jump values in group 2 were higher than group 1 values (p<0.048). Conclusion: Our results showed that lower extremity neural mobilization added to the volleyballers' dynamic warm-up program did not alter agility and reaction time, but it could be more effective in vertical jump. However, the further studies is needed for certain results related to effects of neural mobilization on the performance of the voleyball players. Key words: Neural mobilization, warm up, vertical jump, volleyball