Miss Palmer and her supervisory team including HRI Director Professor Michael Kingsley and Human Performance Stream Leaders Dr Rodrigo Bini and Dr Daniel Wundersitz, investigated the relationship between residual neuromuscular fatigue and subsequent match and training activity in professional women’s basketball. The PhD was made possible through a partnership between La Trobe University and the Bendigo Basketball Association.

The results are in

The findings indicated that neuromuscular fatigue does influence both training and on-court activity in professional women’s basketball. More specifically,

# Players displayed neuromuscular fatigue before a 1/3 of all training sessions

# Supramaximal activity was 5.7% less during matches when players were fatigued prior to matches

# Moderate-vigorous activity was 3.7% less during matches when players were fatigued prior to matches

# When fatigued prior to training, players displayed reduced average intensity, maximal and supramaximal activity

Practical implications

Residual neuromuscular fatigue reduces the amount of supramaximal activity that professional women basketball players perform in subsequent training sessions and matches. To address this, practices should be implemented to minimize residual neuromuscular fatigue while ensuring a sufficient amount of training is undertaken to maximize physiological adaptation. Read the full paper here.

Still want more? You can read more of Jodie’s research below or follow her on Twitter @jodiepalmer08 to keep updated on future research.

# Palmer, J. A., Bini, R., Wundersitz, D., & Kingsley, M. (2022). On-Court Activity and Game-Related Statistics during Scoring Streaks in Basketball: Applied Use of Accelerometers. Sensors, 22(11), 4059.

# Palmer, J., Bini, R., Wundersitz, D., & Kingsley, M. (2021). Criterion validity of an automated method of detecting live play periods in basketball. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3.

# Palmer, J., Wundersitz, D., Bini, R., & Kingsley, M. (2021). Effect of player role and competition level on player demands in basketball. Sports, 9(3), 38.

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