Rhythmic stabilization versus conventional passive stretching to prevent injuries in indoor soccer athletes: A controlled clinical trial

Objective: Indoor soccer is a sport that exposes the athletes to muscle and joint lesions. The effect of rhythmic stabilization (RS) technique to prevent these kinds of lesions in indoor soccer athletes is largely unknown and its use in athletes is controversial. Nevertheless, empiric evidence suggests that RS might be effective to prevent lesions in indoor soccer athletes. A controlled clinical trial of efficacy was performed to test this hypothesis. Methods: Athletes were randomly divided into two groups: a RS group (7 athletes) and passive stretching (PS) group (7 athletes). At the beginning and at the end of the experiment (after four months) all athletes were subjected to clinical evaluation. Assessments were performed by subjective pain intensity, clinical evaluation and measurements of the range of maximal lower limb flexion movement. Results: Athletes of both groups had lower limb injuries during the four months. The athletes submitted to RS technique had fewer injuries than those subjected to the PS technique although the difference was not significant. Conclusions: Although no significant difference was found between RS and PS, a trend suggests RS may be more effective than PS to prevent muscular and ankle joint lesions in indoor soccer athletes, but more research is needed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.