Effect of Fencing Championship on Muscular Damage Indicators in Fencer Females

Introduction: Assessing muscle damage may help to improve the performance of athletes during the tournament. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a fencing tournament on muscle damage markers in fencer females. Methods: In a semiexperimental research 20 fencer women with mean age 21.59 ± 4.03 years, BMI 20.79 ± 3.13 kg.m2 and VO2max 41.01 ± 4.98 ml.kg1.min1 were selected purposefully and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group competed fencing in a periodically and singleoff form. Blood samples were drawn before, immediately after, 24 and 48 hours after the tournament. Statistical analysis of repeated measures and independent ttest were used at P≤ 0.05. Results: The results showed that the differences in CK levels were significant before and immediately after, before and 24 hours after, before and 48 hours later, immediately after and 24 hours later, 24 hours and 48 hours after the tournament (p lt;0.05). Meanwhile, the differences between CK levels immediately after and 48 hours after the tournament were not significant (p gt;0.05). Differences in the levels of LDH before and immediately after, immediately after and 24 hours later and immediately after and 48 hours after the tournament were significant (p lt;0.05), but before, 24 hours and 48 hours after the tournament and 24 hours later and 48 hours after it (p gt; 0.05) were not significant. Conclusion: In professional fencers, a tournament could lead to muscle injury. This can be useful for fencers and coaches to examine the intensity of the exercises and adaptability of involved muscles.