Effects of fatigue on electromyography activity of biceps femoris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of soccer players

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fatigue on electromyography activity of biceps femoris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of soccer players. In this study timing and electromyography activity of biceps femoris, medial gastrocnemius and soleus of soccer players (15 subjects) during different times of football were investigated. Surface electromyography (ME6000) was used to collect data during single leg drop (before the game, after the first and the second half time). Results of this study showed that although fatigue affects muscle's timing but in different periods of time it wasn’t significant (P>0.05). Conspiciously, significant differences were observed for feedforward activity of biceps femoris and soleus (P≤0.05), but for medial gastrocnemius it wasn't significant (P>0.05). Also significant differences were observed for feedback activity of soleus muscles (P≤0.05), but it wasn’t significant for biceps femoris and medial gastrocnemius (P>0.05). It can be concluded that fatigue leads to insignificant changes in timing but there were significant differences for feed forward activity of biceps femoris and soleus and feedback activity of soleus. So, during training sessions, trainers should be trying to improve player's tolerance and prevent soccer injuries