Francisco Ayala

Francisco Ayala
University of Murcia | UM · Faculty of Sport Sciences

PhD

About

126
Publications
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2,793
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Publications

Publications (126)
Article
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Objectives The primary purposes were (a) to estimate the pooled effects of injury prevention programs (IPPs) on reducing overall and some specific body regions (lower extremity, thigh, knee, and ankle) injury incidence rates (IIRs) and (b) to compare the effects of single- and multi-component IPPs on mitigating injury risk in youth team sport athle...
Article
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This study investigated the 7-day recovery period post-soccer matches in elite male academy players. We analyzed changes in physical performance, stretch-shortening cycle capability, landing mechanics, muscle damage, and perceived well-being while also considering the influence of players’ maturity status, chronological age, and physical demands on...
Article
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A range of field-based tests have been proposed for inclusion in physical performance assessment batteries. However, there are obvious time and human resources constraints in applied settings. The knowledge of potential relationships between tests on performance, asymmetries, as well as maturation-induced changes, may help select the most informati...
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The objectives of this network meta-analysis were: (a) to estimate and compare the pooled effects of some injury prevention programs (IPPs) whose exercise-based components were categorized using a movement pattern-specific taxonomy on reducing overall and some specific body regions (lower extremity, thigh, knee, and ankle) injury incidences in yout...
Conference Paper
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E-poster not debated PP-UD01 1223 loskeletal examinations, Bonnet's Sign (OR 1.50, 95%CI 1.10-2.04, p = 0.01), Faber-patrick test (OR 1.39, 95%CI 1.02-1.92, p = 0.04), and Ober's test (OR 2.01, 95%CI 1.27-3.18, p < 0.01) were associated with LBP, but Thomas test and Ely's sign were not significantly associated with LBP. CONCLUSION: The current stud...
Article
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Futsal is one of the most harmful sports due to its great physical demands. The asymmetries have been proposed as one of the most important risk factors of suffering an injury. However, no study has analysed the relationship between neuromuscular assessment and its implication on the likelihood of suffering injuries comparing male and female player...
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The aim of this study was twofold: a) to build models using machine learning techniques on data from an extensive screening battery to prospectively predict lower extremity soft tissue (LE-ST) injuries in non-elite male youth soccer players, and b) to compare models' performance scores (i.e., predictive accuracy) to select the best fit. A sample of...
Conference Paper
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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between frontal plane knee projection angle (FPPA) and sagittal (hip and knee flexion) plane landing kinematic measures during a drop jump (DVJ) and a tuck jump assessment (TJA) test in male youth football players. Eighty-one post-pubertal male footballers were recorded performing DVJ and TJ...
Article
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Despite physiological sex differences in the prevalence, pathogenesis, and responses to pharmacologic therapies of glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the current evidence regarding the benefits of physical activity in people with T2DM, there is still a lack of information about the response to physical activity in T2DM depend...
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Objectives To explore the incidence, burden, and pattern of injuries in Spanish male youth soccer players during a 9-month competitive season (from September to May–June). Design Prospective cohort study. Participants 314 young (10–19 years) soccer players. Main outcome measures Incidence, burden, location, type, severity, mechanism, and circums...
Article
Background: Tennis is one of the most popular sports among youth. At elite levels, a notable increase in injury incidence and a temporary decline in performance may occur when children progress through puberty. However, limited research has explored maturity-associated variations in clinical measurements suggested as predictors of injury and tennis...
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Three-dimensional (3D) motion capture systems have been used to identify athletes in high risk of injury, but due to their cost, lack of portability and qualified technicians, an alternative is needed, such as two-dimensional (2D) systems. The purpose of this study was to examine the criterion-related validity of three measures of frontal plane kne...
Article
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El objetivo principal del presente estudio es describir la batería de cuestionarios y pruebas de campo del Programa Stop & Go para la valoración de los principales factores de riesgo de lesión de la extremidad inferior en jóvenes deportistas. Los 4 cuestionarios y 21 pruebas de campo que componen la batería Stop & Go fueron seleccionados de acuerdo...
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Purpose: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological data of injuries in male and female youth football players. Methods: Searches were performed in MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and SPORTDiscus databases. Studies were considered if they reported injury incidence rate among male and female youth (≤19 yea...
Article
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The purposes of this study were to describe the lower extremities joints range of motion (ROM) profile using a comprehensive approach in futsal players and to examine potential player position (goalkeepers vs. outfield players), competitive level (first [top] division vs. second division), number of playing years, sex (males vs. females), and bilat...
Article
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Objectives To determine the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of frontal and sagittal plane landing kinematic measures during drop jump (DVJ) and tuck jump (TJA) tasks in male youth soccer players, to assess the concurrent validity between DVJ and TJA tests, and to evaluate the ability of both tasks to detect differences between players’ stag...
Article
This study aimed to explore the inter-session reliability of the measures obtained from 2 trunk extension (Biering-Sorensen and Dynamic Extensor Endurance (DEE) tests) and 3 trunk flexion (Ito, Side Bridge and Bench Trunk Curl-Up (BTC) tests) endurance field-based tests in adolescents. A total of 208 (males, n = 100; females, n = 108) adolescents p...
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Background Football is the most popular sport among women; however, little is known about the injury profile in this population. This information would help design tailored injury risk mitigation strategies that may make football safer for women. Objective The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologica...
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Lower extremity non-contact soft tissue (LE-ST) injuries are prevalent in elite futsal. The purpose of this study was to develop robust screening models based on pre-season measures obtained from questionnaires and field-based tests to prospectively predict LE-ST injuries after having applied a range of supervised Machine Learning techniques. One h...
Article
Background: The most demanding scenarios and physical demands of elite basketball 5-on-5 scrimmages are unknown to trainers, although recent advances in microtechnology allows the gaps in this research to be filled. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the physical demands, through the most demanding scenarios and traditional aver...
Article
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Range of movement (ROM) assessment is an important strategy to increase physical-technical performance and minimize the risk of sports-related injuries. Currently, there is no consensus regarding which ROM assessment method is the most appropriate. The main objective of this study was to perform a systematic review of the test batteries available f...
Article
PurposeIt is well recognised that injury prevention training can reduce injury incidence, however current coach education pathways do not provide grass-root coaches with the knowledge and confidence to deliver such training to youth players. The aim of this study was to explore differences in knowledge, understanding, attitude and confidence to del...
Article
The main purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis quantifying the incidence of injuries in futsal players. A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases and subsequently six studies (14 cohorts) were selected. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed tri...
Article
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The passive straight leg raise (PSLR) test is widely used to assess hamstring extensibility. However, to accurately measure hamstring extensibility throughout PSLR, appropriate stabilization of the pelvis must be provided in order to minimize the possible influence of any compensatory movement in the scores reached. The main purpose of this study w...
Article
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Robles-Palazón, FJ, Ayala, F, Cejudo, A, De Ste Croix, M, Sainz de Baranda, P, and Santonja, F. Effects of age and maturation on lower extremity range of motion in male youth soccer players. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2020-Restricted joint range of motion (ROM) has been considered as a primary risk factor for some sport-related injuries. C...
Article
Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of machine learning improved the ability of a neuromuscular screen to identify injury risk factors in elite male youth football players. Methods 355 elite youth football players aged 10–18 years old completed a prospective pre-season neuromuscular screen that included anthropometr...
Article
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This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the inter- and intra-tester reliability of endurance measures obtained through trunk extension field-based tests and to explore the influence of the moderators on the reliability estimates. The reliability induction rate of trunk extension endurance measures was also calculated. A systematic search was conducted...
Article
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The main purpose of this study was to describe the most demanding scenarios of match play in basketball through a number of physical demand measures (high-intensity accelerations and decelerations, relative distance covered, and relative distance covered in established speed zones) for four different rolling average time epochs (30, 60, 180, and 30...
Article
Purpose: To examine the influence of growth and maturation in the trajectory of stretch-shortening cycle capability. Method: Using a mixed-longitudinal design, absolute and relative leg stiffness and reactive strength index (RSI) were measured 3 times over a 3-year period in 44 youth team-sport players. Maturation was determined as maturity offs...
Article
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The main purpose of the current study was to analyze the injury incidence, characteristics and burden among sub-elite female futsal players. Individual exposure to match play and training, injury incidence and characteristics (player position, injury mechanism, type of injuries, severity of injuries, recurrent vs. new injuries, season variation of...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this study was to analyse the relationship between several parameters of neuromuscular performance with dynamic postural control using a Bayesian Network Classifiers (BN) based analysis. Methods The y-balance test (measure of dynamic postural control), isokinetic (concentric and eccentric) knee flexion and extension strength...
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Objective We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological data of injuries in professional male football. Method Forty-four studies have reported the incidence of injuries in football. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epid...
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El objetivo del estudio fue analizar los efectos de un programa de ejercicio físico concurrente y supervisado de 4 semanas de duración sobre variables de capacidad funcional, dolor, calidad del sueño, calidad de vida y condición física relacionada con la salud en dos mujeres adultas diagnosticadas con fibromialgia. Todas las participantes fueron so...
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Hamstring strain injury (HSI) is one of the most prevalent and severe injury in professional soccer. The purpose was to analyze and compare the predictive ability of a range of machine learning techniques to select the best performing injury risk factor model to identify professional soccer players at high risk of HSIs. A total of 96 male professio...
Article
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Background Muscle flexibility is a main component of health-related fitness and one of the basic components of fitness for the performance in some sports. Sport and health professionals require the flexibility profile of soccer to define quantitative aims in the training of flexibility. The aim of this study was to identify age-related differences...
Article
Background and method: This meta-analysis sought to: quantify the effects of isometric resistance training (IRT) on the magnitude of change in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and resting heart rate in adults; and examine whether the magnitude of change in SBP, DBP, MAP and heart rate was...
Article
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Despite of the important benefits derived from regular physical and sport activity, the high physical demands of sport place its practitioners in a more vulnerable situation to suffer an injury. In recent years, numerous strategies have been published that seek to reduce the incidence of injury in young athletes. Therefore, the principal aim of thi...
Article
BACKGROUND: Although low back pain (LBP) is known to be multi-factorial, certain studies have suggested that a deficit in hip extension and rotation range of motion (ROM) may be associated with LBP in athletes. OBJETIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare hip extension and rotation ROMs in elite tennis players with and without a history of LB...
Article
Background: The efficacy of robustness training for high- versus low-risk individuals within high-risk groups is currently unknown. Purpose: To explore the efficacy of robustness training on injury risk factors among female youth soccer players and to examine if high-risk athletes are greater responders to such training. Study design: Controll...
Article
Purpose: To analyse the relationship between several parameters of neuromuscular performance with unilateral dynamic balance measured through the Y-Balance test, as well as to determine the possible sex-related differences. Methods: The Y-Balance test, isokinetic (concentric and eccentric) knee flexion and extension strength, isometric hip abduc...
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Son aún limitados los estudios que han investigado el rol del ejercicio físico como terapia complementaria en el tratamiento de la esquizofrenia. Por lo tanto, el objetivo principal de este estudio fue analizar los efectos de un programa de ejercicio físico sobre variables de salud mental, calidad de vida y condición física en personas con esquizof...
Article
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Objective To analyze the training effects of the FIFA 11+ kids on several parameters of physical performance in male youth football players.Materials and methodsTwenty-three youth players were randomized within each team into two groups (control vs. intervention). The intervention group performed the FIFA 11+ kids programme 2 times a week for 4 wee...
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BodyJump® is a discipline that has broken out strongly in recent years in fitness centers. However, there is no evidence to support its use as an effective and safe program for improving fitness and health. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of a short-term BodyJump® program on fitness and health. A total of three...
Article
BACKGROUND: Research suggests that effect of continuous static stretching on sport performance and/or injury prevention depends on the total stretching volume. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the acute effects of three short duration static stretching interventions of four lower limb muscle groups (15, 30 and 60 seconds per muscle) on the eccentric isokineti...
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Introduction: The application of contemporary statistical approaches coming from Machine Learning and Data Mining environments to build more robust predictive models to identify athletes at high risk of injury might support injury prevention strategies of the future. Purpose: The purpose was to analyse and compare the behaviour of numerous machi...
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Background: Limited ranges of motion (ROM) have been considered as a primary risk factor for some football injuries, but only a few studies have analysed differences in lower extremity joints. The main purposes were (a) to describe the lower extremity ROM profile in professional football players; and (b) to examine differences between goalkeepers...
Article
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Resumen. El BodyJump® es una disciplina que ha irrumpido fuertemente en los últimos años en los centros deportivos. Pese a ello, no hay evidencias que permitan respaldar su uso como programa eficaz y seguro para la mejora de la condición física y salud. Por lo tanto, el objetivo principal de este estudio fue analizar el efecto de un programa de cor...
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To examine and compare sex-related differences in the functioning of the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles and the isokinetic hamstrings eccentric-to-quadriceps concentric functional ratio (H/Q FUNC). Fifty male and 46 female young adults completed this study. Each participant carried out an isokinetic assessment to determine isokinetic concentric...
Article
Background: Females are two to eight times more likely to suffer a non-contact injury compared with males thus the purpose of this study was to explore the influence of joint angle and movement velocity on sex differences in the functional hamstring to quadriceps ratio (H/QFUNC). Methods: Isokinetic concentric and eccentric torque were determine...
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Abstract Purpose To examine and compare sex-related differences in the functioning of the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles and the isokinetic hamstrings eccentric-to-quadriceps concentric functional ratio (H/Q FUNC). Methods Fifty male and 46 female young adults completed this study. Each participant carried out an isokinetic assessment to determi...
Article
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The main purpose of this study was to analyse the training effects of the FIFA 11+ and Harmoknee on several parameters of physical performance measures in youth amateur football players. 41 adolescent players were randomised within each team into 2 groups (team 1: control vs. FIFA 11+; team 2: control vs. Harmoknee). The FIFA 11+ and Harmoknee grou...
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p> Objetivo: Clasificar los valores de flexibilidad de la extremidad inferior en jugadores de la 2ª División de la Liga Nacional de fútbol sala. Método: 60 jugadores fueron valorados mediante la versión básica del protocolo ROM-SPORT. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo y por percentiles para clasificarlos valores de los siete movimientos evaluados....
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No studies have analysed the acute effects of the FIFA 11+ and Harmoknee warm-up programmes on major physical performance measures. The aim of this study was to analyse the acute (post-exercise) effects of the FIFA 11+, Harmoknee and dynamic warm-up routines on several physical performance measures in amateur football players. A randomized, crossov...
Data
Dynamic postural control assessment (anterior [figure a], posteromedial [figure b] and posterolateral [figure c] directions). (TIFF)
Data
The passive hip flexion (passive straight leg raise test [figure a]), extension (Thomas test [figure b]) and abduction (passive hip abduction with knee flexed over the edge of the plinth test [figure c]); knee flexion (Modified Thomas test [figure d]) and ankle dorsiflexion (weight-bearing lunge with knee extended [figure e] and flexed [figure f] t...
Article
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The purpose of this study was to analyse the acute and chronic effects of the FIFA 11+ on several physical performance measures. A total of 41 youth amateur men football players completed this study. Participants were allocated into two different sub-studies: a) sub-study 1 (acute effects) and b) sub-study 2 (chronic effects). While in the sub-stud...
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ABSTRACT Introduction: Ankle sprains are injuries that commonly occur during physical activity. They constitute between 15-75% of all sport injuries, and they can develop into chronic ankle instability (CAI) and functional disability. Subjects with CAI have exhibited diminished dynamic balance and weakness in the hip abductor muscles. Therefore, th...
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El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar las relaciones existentes entre los principales factores de riesgo propuestos a la hora de sufrir una lesión de la musculatura isquiosural en deportistas. Se registraron todos los casos de lesiones de la musculatura isquiosural sufridas por los participantes el año deportivo anterior. Además, todos los par...
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Despite the large number of studies that have examined the acute effects of different warm up modalities (WU) on physical performance, none of them have documented the time course of potential performance recovery in tennis players. The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to analyze and compare the acute effects of two different WU modalities (tradi...
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p>El rango de movimiento limitado de la abducción de la cadera por una menor extensibilidad o cortedad de los aductores predispone a ciertas lesiones deportivas. Las pruebas angulares de la Abducciónde la Caderacon Pierna Recta (AB<sub>PR</sub>) y la Abducción de la Cadera en Flexión (AB<sub>F</sub>) deben incluirse en cualquier evaluación deportiv...
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Background: An inadequate level of flexibility of the adductor muscles is one of the most critical risk factors for chronic groin pain and strains. However, measurement methods of adductor muscle flexibility are not well defined. Purpose: To determine the inter-session reliability of the biarticular and monoarticular adductor muscle flexibility...
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The purpose of this study was to define the optimal lower-limb flexibility data for 20 female futsal players. Therefore, the flexibility of the major lower-limb muscles was evaluated throughout 7 different passive range of motion (ROM) assessment tests. The results of this study define the optimal ROM ranges for field players as: 43º-52º for the ga...
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Objective: To describe the range of motion (ROM) profile (flexion, extension, abduction, internal and external rotation) of the hip in elite tennis players; and (b) to analyse if there are sex-related differences in the hip ROM. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Controlled laboratory environment. Participants: 81 male and 28 female tennis playe...
Article
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Objectives: To examine and compare the acute effects of short duration static and dynamic lower-limb stretching routines on the knee flexor and extensor peak torque and mean power during maximal concentric and eccentric muscle actions. Method: Forty-nine active adults completed the following intervention protocols on separate days: non-stretching,...
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The purpose of this study was to analyse the effect of the different degree of tester´s experience on the criterion-related validity and the inter-session reliability of the ankle dorsiflexion range of motion measures (ROM ADF) obtained from the following tests: passive non weight-bearing test (ADF PAS), weight-bearing lunge test using an inclinome...