13/11/2011 12:00 AM 13 November - Playing football under extreme heat has shown to not compromise athletes’ recovery or elevate markers of muscle damage any more than football played in normal temperature settings, according an Aspetar-led study presented today. The Aspetar (Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital) research, conducted by Dr Lars Nybo Nielson, is expected to rake in a lot of interest, coming amidst rising criticism of pitting football teams against each other in extreme heat. Speaking at a seminar featuring presentations on heat and exercise at the Aspetar Auditorium, and as part of the Medical Forums at Aspetar held as part of Aspire4Sport, the sports congress and exhibition event currently underway at the Aspire Dome from November 12-15, Dr Nielson’s presentation was titled “Football in the heat: fatigue, physiological performance and recovery aspect. Central to the research, labelled ‘Doha Soccer Study 2010’, is technical and medical data drawn from two football games participated by 22 players from the Scandinavia. The first match was held indoor at temperature above 20C, while the second match was played out in the open when mercury was touching nearly 43C. The players were screened pre- and post-match for a wide range of metrics ranging focusing on heat stress on the heart and brain, as well as on muscles. “Based on the study we can see that soccer in the heat is associated with: elevated core and muscle temperature (in the range of 40-41 C), faster sprinting, and more successful passes,” noted Dr Nielson. However, factors such as total distance covered, as well as high intensity running by athletes are reduced considerably when playing under torrid conditions, showed the Doha Soccer Study 2010. “If we do repeated sprinting, the power output follows some pattern for both the ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ match,” he said. It was also shown that the cerebral temperature also contributes to post-match player fatigue – as do a number of other factors such as players’ mood and will. “We also learned that for the hot match, when measuring the physical performance all the exertion reduced high intensity run by 26%, the total running dropped by 7%, but sprinting distance did not differ significantly for both the matches, “ pointed out Dr Nielson. Players of a football match do not generally sprint for longer than two seconds in a single burst. The study also gauged the recovery performance of all the participants immediately after the match, and post 24-hour and 48-hour periods. Also presenting on the topic were Dr Sebastin Racinais and Dr Martin Thompson. Members of the audience at the Aspetar Medical Forum seminar later engaged in a question and answer session with the three distinguished speakers. -Ends-