Acute neuromuscular fatigue induced by repeated direction changes does not influence free throw accuracy in amateur basketball players

Introduction Performance in basketball is determined by a combination of physical and technical aspects (Ziv and Lidor, 2009). It has been recently demonstrated that free throw (FT) accuracy can be negatively influenced by exercise intensity (HR ~80% HRmax) preceding FTs (Padulo et al., 2014). However, the acute effect of lower limb neuromuscular fatigue on FT accuracy has yet to be investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the acute effect of neuromuscular fatigue induced by a basketball specific exercise, repeated changes of direction (COD), on FT accuracy. Methods Twenty-one amateur basketball players (age: 26.2\ub18.1 yrs, height: 185\ub110 cm, weight: 81.6\ub113.8 kg) were randomly assigned to exercise (EG) or control group (CG). All players performed 4 series of FT with the aim of scoring as many FT as possible in a 10-sec period. The four series of FT were separated by 30-s of rest for CG and 30-s of repeated COD for EG. COD exercise comprised of 180\ub0 turns performed repeatedly on a 7 m course following pre-determined acoustic signals. The COD exercise increased in intensity following each series of FT. All subjects performed countermovement jumps (CMJ) on a Force plate (Quattro Jump, Kistler, Switzerland) prior to the first (PRE), and following the last (POST), series of FT. Results The CMJ performance was reduced only in EG (time x group interaction: p=0.001, p=0.009 and p=0.023 for height, peak power and peak force respectively). In EG the CMJ indices were significantly reduced from PRE to POST measures (height: 45.5\ub14.2 vs 41.6\ub14.1 cm; peak power: 51.5\ub15.7 vs 47.8\ub15.6 W/kg; Peak Force: 2132\ub1370 vs 2002\ub1287 N, all p