Background: Rugby union players can take several days to fully recover from competition. Muscle damage induced\nduring the match has a major role in player recovery; however the specific characteristics of match play that predict\npost-match muscle damage remains unclear. We examined the relationships between a marker of muscle damage\nand performance characteristics associated with physical contacts and high-speed movement in professional rugby\nunion players.\nMethods: Twenty-eight professional rugby union players (15 forwards, 13 backs) participated in this study. Data\nwere obtained from 4 European Cup games, with blood samples collected 2 h pre, and 16 and 40 h post-match,\nand were subsequently analysed for creatine kinase (CK). Relationships between changes in CK concentrations and\nnumber of physical contacts and high-speed running markers, derived from performance analysis and global\npositioning system (GPS) data, were assessed.\nResults: Moderate and moderate-large effect-size correlations were identified between contact statistics from\nperformance analysis and changes in CK at 16 and 40 h post-match in forwards and backs, respectively (e.g. backs;\ntotal impacts vs. ?CK (r = 0.638, p < 0.01) and ?% CK (r = 0.454, p < 0.05) 40 h post-match). Furthermore, moderate\neffect-size correlations were found between measures of high-speed running and sprinting, and changes in CK at\n16 and 40 h post-match within the backs (e.g. high-speed running distance vs. ?CK (r = 0.434, p = 0.056) and ?% CK\n(r = 0.437, p = 0.054) 40 hrs post-match).\nConclusions: Our data demonstrate that muscle damage induced by professional rugby union match play is to\nsome extent predicted by the number of physical contacts induced during performance. Furthermore, we show\nfor the first time that muscle damage in backs players is predicted by high-speed running measures derived from\nGPS. These data increase the understanding of the causes of muscle damage in rugby union; performance markers\ncould potentially be used to tailor individual recovery strategies and subsequent training following rugby union\ncompetition.
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