The effect of long term electrical stimulation of the peroneus longus muscle on the static and dynamic balance of american football players

Introduction: Ankle injuries are the most common injuries in all sports injuries. Hovewer not enough care is given to prevent these injuries. Individuals with better strength and balance profiles are less likely to be injured. Long-term electrical stimulation may result in some gains in strength and balance in individuals. Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of long-term electrical stimulation of the peroneus longus muscle on the balance of healthy athletes. In addition, the differences that may occur in strength scores will be evaluated throughout the application. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 well-trained and healthy male American football players taking part in the university league participated in the study. Four participants were excluded from the study at the beginning for various reasons. Thirty-six participants underwent initial testing to assess both their leg muscle isometric strength, and static and dynamic balances. Participants were divided into two groups of 19 testing and 17 control individuals. All participants continued to practice with the team throughout the study period. No restrictions were applied. Nineteen participants of the testing group received electrical stimulation three times a week for five weeks. During the five-week application period, four participants were excluded from the study for various reasons. Trials were conducted with the remaining 32 participants, including the 16 controls. Statistical Analysis: The SPSS program was used for statistical evaluation. Means and standard deviations for numerical data were calculated. Normality test was applied. Non viii parametric tests were used for data with non-normal distribution and non-parametric tests were used for data with normal distribution. A level of p≤0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Following electrical stimulation application, the testing group's dominant side first test-final test mean differences in muscle strength during eversion and dorsal flexion improved (p=0.041 and p=0.017 respectively). The strength differences in the control group were not significant (p>0.05). Differences between the first test-final test scores for the dominant side's static front-back sway, dynamic mediolateral sway, and multiaxial equilibrium support the hypothesis that the testing group would improve in the given aspects was significant (p=0.05, p=0.027 and p=0.015 respectively). The difference between the static front-back sway balance data set for the control group was significant (p=0.029) too. Conclusion: The main hypothesis of the study such that long-term electrical stimulation in healthy athletes would have a positive effect on static and dynamic balance was confirmed. This is the first study to examine the effect of long-term electrical stimulation on balance in healthy athletes excluding isometric contractions. More extensive work on the topic may be needed