Purpose

The study evaluates the effect of low-frequency electrical stimulation (LFES) of calf muscles on repeated-sprint performance and compares it with the frequently used active (ACT) and passive (PAS) recovery in amateur soccer players

Methods

A group of 11 amateur male soccer players completed 2 repeated-sprint ability (RSA) tests (7 × 34.2 m with 25 s of ACT recovery between sprints) separated by a 15-min recovery period. During recovery, 1 of the 3 recovery modalities (PAS, ACT, or LFES) was randomly selected.

Results

Mean sprint time significantly increased between the first and the second RSA test after PAS (from 6.43 ± 0.21 s to 6.49 ± 0.23 s; p = 0.029) and LFES (from 6.45 ± 0.25 s to 6.54 ± 0.27 s; p = 0.025), whereas its values did not change significantly after ACT (from 6.42 ± 0.21 s to 6.45 ± 0.2 s; p = 0.093). However, small effect sizes indicate that the changes in mean sprint time after these 3 recovery modalities were not practically significant (PAS, d = 0.22; LFES, d = 0.29; ACT, d = 0.13). In addition, mean sprint time in the RSA test did not differ significantly between groups that underwent different recovery modalities.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that practitioners can use any of these different recovery modalities, basing on their desire.