Oura ring as a monitoring tool in elite female ice hockey players
Kaukonen, Viola (2019)
Lataukset:
2019
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201904255962
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201904255962
Tiivistelmä
Monitoring athletes stress and recovery have gained its popularity in high performance sports. For effective monitoring it is important to find the most suitable and reliable methods for the athletes. The purpose of the study was to assess the functionality of Oura ring in a use of female elite ice hockey players. The other objective was to collect data of the players individual training, alcohol consumption and possible injuries/illnesses during their usual training cycle for the use of Oura Health.
The subjects of the study were nineteen (19) ice hockey players with an average age of 22,1 years from Oulun Kärpät Naiset team, playing in the Finnish Women’s National league. The players training load, perceived fatigue, sleep quality and muscle soreness were collected from six (6) weeks from September 2018 to November 2018 through Webropol surveys and Resting Heart Rate (RHR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) were measured by using Oura wellness ring. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between training load, (from the previous day, 4 days acute training load and 2 weeks chronic training load) the daily wellness-assessment average and the nightly Oura data. The relationship of Oura ring variables were also examined.
The effect of training load did not have significant correlation on RHR and HRV when the full data was examined. There were neither a relationship between the wellness-assessment and RHR and HRV. When examining the individual data for some players there were medium to high correlation but for some players there were no correlation at all. There was also a strong significant relationship between RHR and HRV examined from Oura ring. This study shows that there is low but significant correlation between the training load and the wellness- assessment.
This study confirmed that morning-measured ratings of fatigue, sleep quality and DOMS are probably more sensitive to the changes in training load than the Oura ring HR- derived parameters. Oura ring could provide useful information for some individuals about overall recovery, but it should be combined with subjective measures. In future, the possible measuring errors should also be reconsidered, and the players needs to be familiarized well with the use of Oura ring and Oura Cloud. The user experience showed that the players benefited from the information given from the ring and that the sleep tracking was the most appreciated feature.
The subjects of the study were nineteen (19) ice hockey players with an average age of 22,1 years from Oulun Kärpät Naiset team, playing in the Finnish Women’s National league. The players training load, perceived fatigue, sleep quality and muscle soreness were collected from six (6) weeks from September 2018 to November 2018 through Webropol surveys and Resting Heart Rate (RHR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) were measured by using Oura wellness ring. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between training load, (from the previous day, 4 days acute training load and 2 weeks chronic training load) the daily wellness-assessment average and the nightly Oura data. The relationship of Oura ring variables were also examined.
The effect of training load did not have significant correlation on RHR and HRV when the full data was examined. There were neither a relationship between the wellness-assessment and RHR and HRV. When examining the individual data for some players there were medium to high correlation but for some players there were no correlation at all. There was also a strong significant relationship between RHR and HRV examined from Oura ring. This study shows that there is low but significant correlation between the training load and the wellness- assessment.
This study confirmed that morning-measured ratings of fatigue, sleep quality and DOMS are probably more sensitive to the changes in training load than the Oura ring HR- derived parameters. Oura ring could provide useful information for some individuals about overall recovery, but it should be combined with subjective measures. In future, the possible measuring errors should also be reconsidered, and the players needs to be familiarized well with the use of Oura ring and Oura Cloud. The user experience showed that the players benefited from the information given from the ring and that the sleep tracking was the most appreciated feature.