Relationship Between Core and Respiratory Muscle Endurance in Elite Handball Players

Background: Postural and respiratory control cooperation is crucial in handball, which requires high levels of postural control, strength, aerobic and respiratory endurance. In the literature, no study has been found that examines the relationship between respiratory and core endurance in handball players. This study aims to investigate the correlation between core muscle endurance and respira-tory muscle function in elite handball players. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four female handball players were (22.17±3.42 years) included in the study. Core endurance, pulmonary functions including Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in First Second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF), respiratory muscle endurance and strength (Maximal Inspiratory Pressure; MIP, Maximal Expiratory Pressure; MEP) were evaluated in players. Results: There were positive significant correlations between dominant wall sit hold test duration (s) and respiratory muscle performance, including respiratory muscle endurance (cmH2Oxs) (r=0.536) and duration (Tmax) (r=0.441), MIP (r=0.446; r=0.439), MEP (r=0.482;r=0.546) (cmH2O/%). The positive significant correlations were observed between non-dominant wall sit hold duration and MIP (r=0.534; r=0.548) (cmH2O/%), MEP (r=0.442) (%) (p≤0.05). The respiratory muscle endurance and expiratory muscle strength values (53.4%, p=0.001; r=0.764) have a significant influence on core muscle endurance. Conclusions: Trainings that include core-respiratory muscle cooperation should be developed for better postural control, strength and endurance in handball players. The contribution of a compre-hensive training program to improve postural stability and respiratory function on athletic perfor-mance should be investigated.