Investigation of the effect of restricted environmental stimulation technique (Flotation-REST) in a flotation tank on physical, physiologi̇cal and psychological recovery parameters of football players

It is known that heavy training and football matches affect performance negatively. Although various recovery methods are used to relieve the fatigue of football players, there is no effective method yet. Therefore, in our study, we aimed to investigate the effect of Flotation-REST on the physical, physiological and psychological recovery parameters of football players. Football players, who play in the amateur league in the Bitlis, divided into control (n=12) and Float (n=12) groups. After plyometric training, Flotation-REST was applied to the float group. The effect of the method on recovery was evaluated on heart rate, blood parameters (lactate, cortisol, testosterone, myoglobin, creatine kinase, leukocytes, IL-6, TNF-alpha), performance and psychological parameters. Autoanalyzers and Elisa method were used in the analysis of blood parameters. In our study, it was determined that Flotation-REST had positive effects on heart-rate, lactate, creatine kinase, myoglobin, cortisol, IL-6 levels. Our findings show that Flotation-REST application accelerates recovery by reducing the pain levels of rectus femoris, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius and Achilles tendon. Football players stated that Flotation-REST generally reduced their pain and increased their performance. It was observed that Flotation-REST had a positive effect on the speed (30m), agility and thrust performances of the Float group. Our study is the first to evaluate the effect of Flotation-REST on the recovery of football players. Our results show that Flotation-REST can be used as a new recovery method. Our study is important in terms of shedding light on the studies on the development and active use of the method. Keywords: Football; Fatigue; Recovery; Plyometric training; Flotation-REST.