Investigation of the relationship between cognitive functions and motor skills with injury risk in adolescent football players

Year 2025, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 38 - 47, 29.03.2025

Öyküm Özlem Karagülle , Neslişah Gün , Evrim Gökçe

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between cognitive functions and motor skills and injury risk in adolescent football players.
Methods: The study included 93 healthy male volunteers (age: 12.11 ± 1.26 years), between the ages of 10 and 14, who were right-handed and dominant, from youth academies affiliated to the Karabük Youth and Sports Provincial Directorate. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki with the approval of the Istanbul Arel University non-invasive clinical research ethics committee (2022/17 No. E-69396709-050.06.04-233596). D2 attention, Corsi Cube Placement, and Flanker tests were preferred to evaluate cognitive functions, respectively. The German Motor Skills test was used to evaluate motor skills. The Landing Error Scoring System after Jumping was used to assess the risk of injury. The images of the jumps recorded from the frontal and sagittal planes during the jump tests were analyzed with the video-based motion analysis program Kinovea. The relationship between the variables was evaluated by Pearson correlation analysis.
Results: A significant relationship was found between attention and injury risk (r=-0.314; p=0.002). No relationship was found between motor skill and injury risk. The relationship between attention and motor skill was significant (r=-0.237; p=0.022). Short-term memory and inhibition had no significant relationship with motor skill.
Conclusion: Decreased attention function is associated with increased injury risk. The inclusion of cognitive function assessment in injury risk assessment would be beneficial in planning preventive and improving training protocols for adolescent football players.

Keywords

Adolescent, Football, Cognition, Motor skill, Sports injury

Adölesan futbolcularda bilişsel işlevler ve motor becerinin yaralanma riskiyle ilişkisinin araştırılması

Abstract

Amaç: Adölesan futbolcularda bilişsel işlevler ve motor becerinin, yaralanma riski ile arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemek idi.
Yöntem: Çalışmaya Karabük Gençlik ve Spor İl Müdürlüğüne bağlı gençlik akademilerinden sağ eli baskın olarak kullanan, yaşları 10 ile 14 arasında, sağlıklı 93 gönüllü erkek (yaş: 12,11 ± 1,26 yıl) dahil edildi. Çalışma, İstanbul Arel Üniversitesi girişimsel olmayan klinik araştırmalar etik kurulu onayı (2022/17 No’lu E-69396709-050.06.04-233596 sayılı) ile Helsinki Deklarasyonuna uygun olarak yürütüldü. Bilişsel işlevleri değerlendirmek için sırasıyla D2 dikkat, Corsi Küp Yerleştirme ve Flanker testleri tercih edildi. Motor beceriyi değerlendirmek için Alman Motor Beceri testi kullanıldı. Yaralanma riskini değerlendirmek için Sıçramadan Sonra Yere İniş Hata Puanlama Sistemi kullanıldı. Sıçrama testleri sırasında frontal ve sagital plandan kaydedilen sıçramaların görüntüleri, video tabanlı hareket analiz programı Kinovea ile analiz edildi. Değişkenler arasındaki ilişki Pearson korelasyon analizi ile değerlendirildi.
Bulgular: Dikkat işlevi ile yaralanma riski arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulundu (r=-0,314; p=0,002). Motor beceri ile yaralanma riski arasında anlamlı bir ilişki yok idi. Dikkat işlevi ile motor beceri ilişkisi anlamlıydı (r=-0,237; p=0,022). Kısa süreli bellek ve inhibisyon, motor beceri ile anlamlı bir ilişki göstermedi.
Sonuç: Dikkat işlevinin azalması yaralanma riskinin artışıyla ilişkilidir. Adölesan futbolcularda bilişsel işlevlerin değerlendirilmesinin yaralanma riski değerlendirmesine dahil edilmesi, koruyucu ve geliştirici antrenman protokollerinin planlanmasında fayda gösterecektir.

Keywords

Adölesan, Futbol, Biliş, Motor beceri, Spor yaralanması

Ethical Statement

İstanbul Arel Üniversitesi etik kurulu onayı ile Helsinki deklarasyonuna uygun olarak hazırlanmıştır.

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