LONG TERM IMPROVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE INDEXES IN BASKETBALL PLAYERS

Abstract

In the present paper measurements and tests were carried out on 12 basketball players of a D-series team, undergoing muscular strengthen, for a period of more than 2 years. The team was divided into 2 groups : the control group, composed of 5 players undergoing only team-training, and the experimental group, composed of 7 players undergoing team-training and sinusoidal electrical stimulation to increase the power in quadriceps femoris and triceps surae . In this study a sinusoidal current at the frequency of 2500 Hz has been used. A stimulation time of 10 seconds was chosen, followed by a rest period of 50 seconds to avoid a reduction of the subsequent contraction force. This stimulation procedure was applied to the subjects of the experimental group for 20 minutes per day for 15days. Four stimulation cycles of 15 days were globally performed using the 4channel electrical stimulator mod. ST-E4C.Similar anthropometric data characterised the two groups : for the experimental group the mean age was 20.1 f 1.9 years, the mean height was 187.7 f 5.0 an and the mean weight 83.8 f 6.4 Kg for the control group these values were respectively 20.8 f 2.5 years, 189.0 f 2.8 cm, 80.6 f 3.7 Kg .Before and after each stimulation cycle, at the beginning and at the end of the agonistic season several tests were performed to evaluate performance indexes :1. Abalakov test (taking the best result of three tests);2. Standing long jump (taking the best result of three tests);3.30 meters dash (taking the average time of three tests).This study has shown that a h26 months the experimental group reached increments of performance indexes twice greater than the control group. After summer, before the beginning of the agonistic season, the absolute increments for the experimental group remained higher than the control group, suggesting that the improvement of the muscular performance by means of sinusoidal electrical stimulation is maintained by a normal training and constitutes a basic resource for the following improvements.