"The Effect of Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) on Strength Development and Shooting Accuracy Improvement in Female Handball Players"

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 faculty of physical eduacation - helwan university

2 Faculty of Sports Science for Girls – Helwan University,cairo.

3 Faculty of Sports Sciences for Girls, Helwan University,cairo

4 Department of biological sciences and Sports Health (Division of exercise Physiology)- Faculty of Physical Education for Girls-Helwan University-Egypt.

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) on developing muscular strength and improving shooting performance in female handball players. The researcher employed the experimental method using a pre-test and post-test design with two groups (experimental and control). The sample consisted of ten (10) players from the Helwan University handball team, equally divided into two groups (5 players each). The experimental group underwent a training program using EMS for a duration of 12 weeks, with two training sessions per week. The results revealed that the EMS-based training program significantly enhanced muscular strength (in the lower limbs, abdominal muscles and trunk flexors, trunk, and upper limbs), with improvement rates ranging from 65.52% to 106.15%. Additionally, skill-related variables related to shooting performance (jump shot, shooting accuracy from a jump, and high jump shot) showed improvements ranging from 9.33% to 78.26%. Statistically significant differences were observed in favor of the experimental group compared to the control group. The main recommendations included incorporating EMS-based strength training into handball-specific physical conditioning programs to improve physical fitness and motor skills, encouraging coaches to adopt modern training technologies such as EMS, and conducting further research on diverse samples and various sports to evaluate the broader efficacy of EMS.

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