How to improve your sports reaction times

Overview of reaction times

Your reaction time is simply the time taken between a stimulus and when you take action. There are two parts to this we need to consider.

In this section:

1. Physiological reaction time
2. Anticipation time

Physiological reaction time

Your physiological reaction time is the time taken between when your brain recognises the need to act and when your muscles start to contract. It is divided into two parts: pre-motor and motor.

• Pre-motor: the time taken for the message to travel along your nervous system and be delivered to your muscle
• Motor: the time taken from when your muscle receives the message and when it starts to contact

Some important facts about reaction times

Physiological reaction time is similar for most people

Despite differences in sports performances the physiological reaction time is very similar for most people, averaging about 200 ms. A "ms" is 1/1000 of a second, making this time about 1/5 of a second (1)⁠.

Physiological reaction times cannot be improved by training

Despite the advice often given research shows that training cannot change this speed of approximately 200 ms (2–4)⁠.

Physiological reaction time does not vary with things like sleep, race or gender

This reaction time is similar whether you are male or female, and will not deteriorate if you do not get enough sleep (1)⁠.

Physiological reactions times slow down very slightly after exercise

This reaction time slows down 5-10 ms after exercising, presumably due to fatigue of the parts involved (5)⁠.

Anticipation time

Anticipation time is the time taken between a stimulus occuring and your brain interpreting that it needs to react.

In practice reaction time = anticipation time + physiological reaction time

Therefore, in practice the time taken to react includes both anticipation and the physiological reaction time. The nerves and muscles of higher level sports people work at about the same speed as novices, but higher level sports people are able to anticipate and make a decision to react much faster.

The two things that can improve your reaction times

1. Improve anticipation time
2. Eliminate (myofascial) trigger points that slow motor time

Improving anticipation time

The big difference between novice and higher level athletes is that the high level athletes have faster reactions due to a shorter anticipation time.

Faster interpretation

As the karate example showed, experienced practitioners were able to interpret the situation and the need to react 100 ms faster. This is where practice and appropriate training can make a big difference.

The need for alertness

In the trials that have been done we can assume that those tested were generally alert and waiting for the stimulus such as a light or a sound. On the other hand someone playing sport could be tired or not concentrating, delaying a reaction considerably. This is one area where things such as the following will help.

• getting enough sleep
• improving physical fitness so one is not tired
• improving concentration, focus and alertness

Eliminate (myofascial) trigger points that slow motor time

(Myofascial) trigger points, or trigger points for short are those tender lumps in your muscles that therapists find. These are very common in the muscles of sports people, and have been found to inhibit the function of muscles. In a trial comparing muscles with and without trigger points those with trigger points were found to react up to 100 ms slower (6)⁠.

What this means in practical terms

The karate example

The karate trial found that the difference between an experienced practitioner and a novice was that with the novices there was a delay of 100 ms in perceiving the need to react. This can be the difference between being able to block a kick or punch, and being knocked out. The researchers found that trigger points can cause a similar 100 ms delay.

Effect on coordination

In the simple example above the tennis player with the trigger points would just be missing or miss-timing the shot. In reality these movements require the coordinated effort of many muscles, and some may have trigger points while others may not (7,8)⁠.

As a simple example, say we have a movement that need two muscles to contract together, but one had a trigger point while the other did not. Your brain would send out messages to both at the same time, but the muscle with the trigger point would contract 100 ms later. The reality is with many muscles it is more complicated, but this illustrates the principle of how timing and biomechanics can be affected. As an example this can be a major cause of shoulder pain (see Why shoulder pain keeps coming back and what you can do about it ).

Practical advice about treating trigger points

Trigger points are extremely common. As an example, one trial found that nearly 90% of adults with no pain had trigger points in their shoulder muscles alone (9)⁠. While they are best known for causing pain, as this article discusses even when not causing pain they can have serious effects. Also, unfortunately as discussed in our article What is the best treatment for trigger points , trigger points are generally under-diagnosed and poorly treated. However, the following guides will share with you an easy effective way you can find and treat these trigger points yourself.

Resources

Your Complete Guide To (Myofascial) Trigger Points
The simple effective way to treat trigger points yourself
Video: How to treat trigger points

References

1. Caccese JB, Eckner JT, Franco-MacKendrick L, Hazzard JB, Ni M, Broglio SP, et al. Clinical reaction-time performance factors in healthy collegiate athletes. J Athl Train. 2020;55(6):601–7.
2. Bishop Panton L, Graves JE, Pollock ML, Hagberg JM, Chen W. Effect of aerobic and resistance training on fractionated reaction time and speed of movement. Journals Gerontol. 1990;45(1).
3. Mori S, Ohtani Y, Imanaka K. Reaction times and anticipatory skills of karate athletes. Hum Mov Sci. 2002;21(2):213–30.
4. Koppelaar H, Moghadam PK, Khan K, Kouhkani S, Segers G, van Warmerdam M. Reaction time improvements by neural bistability. Behav Sci (Basel). 2019;9(3):1–14.
5. Fong DTP, Leung WC, Mok KM, Yung PSH. Delayed ankle muscle reaction time in female amateur footballers after the first 15 min of a simulated prolonged football protocol. Vol. 7, Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics. 2020.
6. Yassin M, Talebian S, Ebrahimi Takamjani I, Maroufi N, Ahmadi A, Sarrafzadeh J, et al. The effects of arm movement on reaction time in patients with latent and active upper trapezius myofascial trigger point. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2015;29(1):1159–68.
7. Takamjani EE, Yassin M, Talebian S, Maroufi N, Srrafzadeh J, Ahmadi A. Muscles Recruitment Pattern in People with and Without Active Upper Trapezius Myofascial Trigger Points in the Standing Posture. Middle East J Rehabil Heal Stud. 2018;5(4).
8. Lucas KR, Rich PA, Polus BI. The Effects of Latent Myofascial Trigger Points on Muscle Activation Patterns During Scapular Plane Elevation. Jclb. 2007;25(8):765–70.
9. Lucas KR, Rich PA, Polus BI. How common are latent myofascial trigger points in the scapular positioning muscles? J Musculoskelet Pain. 2008;16(4):279–86.