The effect of mental fatigue on performance and movement quality in football players

The aim of our study was to examine the effects of mental fatigue on accuracy/reaction time, sprinting ability, lower extremity movement quality and jumping performance. Fifteen football players playing in the amateur league with an average age of 19.2 ± 0.77 years participated in our study. After demographic data were taken, basic measurements of sprint time, reaction time, vertical jump height and lower extremity movement quality evaluation were taken. In addition, mental fatigue and motivation level were measured with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A mental fatigue protocol was applied to all football players with the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT). All measurements were repeated after the fatigue protocol. NASA-TLX (NASA-mental workload index) was used to measure mental workload after the fatigue protocol. In our study, a significant difference was found in sprint time, reaction time, lower extremity movement quality evaluation, mental fatigue and motivation level evaluation after mental fatigue compared to the initial measurements (p<0.05). In the assessment of vertical jump height, no significant difference was found compared to the initial measurement after mental fatigue (p>0.05). NASA-mental workload index was high after the LSPT test. It has been found that mental fatigue has negative effects on sprint time, reaction time measurements and lower extremity movement quality. There was no significant effect on vertical jump height. It has been supported that LSPT is an ecological task that can be used to create mental fatigue.