Improvement of Elite Female Athletes’ Physical Performance With a 3-Week Unexpected Disturbance Program

Context: Sensorimotor training is commonly used in a rehabilitative setting; however, the effectiveness of an unexpected disturbance program (UDP) to enhance performance measures in uninjured elite athletes is unknown. Objective: To assess the impact of a 3-wk UDP program on strength, power, and proprioceptive measures. Design: Matched-group, pre-post design. Setting: National sport institute. Participants: 21 international-level female field hockey athletes. Intervention: Two 45-min UDP sessions were incorporated into each week of a 3-wk training program (total 6 sessions). Main Outcome Measures: 1-repetition-maximum strength, lower-limb power, 20-m running speed, and proprioception tests were performed before and after the experimental period. Results: Substantial improvements in running sprint speed at 5-m (4.4 ± 2.6%; effect size [ES]: 0.88), 10-m (2.1 ± 1.9%; ES: 0.51), and 20-m (1.0 ± 1.6%; ES: 0.23) were observed in the UDP group. Squat-jump performance was also clearly enhanced when compared to th...