Female Football Players Stretching Training and Performance on the Dynamic Balance

Injury prevention in sports is very important, and a lot of investigative time and effort is spent in this realm. Many different tools have been created that are designed to pinpoint the athlete's predisposition to or risk for injuries. Also, health professionals and coaches should work with athletes to attempt to reduce the number of injuries as much as possible. The objective of the prevention process is not to eliminate injuries, but rather to reduce them and keep them at an acceptable level. Many authors have shown that interventions that include balance exercises are very efficient in injury risk reduction as well as performance improvement after an injury. Poor balance, altered motor control, or lack of neuromuscular control have all been described as predictors of injury risk in the lower limbs of athletes. The Y-Balance Test (YBT), a validated derivation of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT), is a functional screening tool that can be reliably administered for a variety of purposes: to assess lower extremity stability, monitor rehabilitation progress, understand deficits after injury, and identify athletes at high risk for lower extremity injury. For these reasons, we have decided to research whether stretching exercises can improve the Y Balance Test. The research was conducted on football players in the first league of Bosnia and Hercegovina. Comparisons were made between static and dynamic stretching and their effects on Y Balance Test performance while no stretching exercises were performed in the control group. Stretching improves body posture, achieves good muscular and joint mobility, has a positive effect on preventing injury, and reduces muscle pain, also regular stretching improves body balance. The aim is to explore which stretching exercises will increase the results on the Y Balance Test and whether this will happen at all.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of stretching exercises on the Y-Balance Test (YBT, as a test for dynamic balance) performance and postural control in female football players.

Inclusion criteria

• No musculoskeletal injury within 10 days of the start of the study,
• Age over 14 years (The Official Gazette of the Football Federation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Women's Football League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, article 15. states that female players who have reached the age of 14 and who have a specialist medical examination can play for the first team, a maximum of 5 player's on the field in the same game)
• Voluntary participation in the study.

Exclusion criteria

• Age below 14 years,
• Refusal to take the examination,
• Errors in keeping records of injuries by responsible persons,
• Lower legs injuries in the last 10 days,
• Vestibular disorders.