The overlooked causes of poor reaction times in sports

Overview

Recognition and decision time

While everyone’s reaction time is roughly similar ones brain first needs to recognise the need to react and decide on an action. This is where elite athletes are much better than novices, and an excellent area to focus our attention on.

Things that inhibit the function of nerves and muscles

While normally functioning nerve transmission and chemical reactions cannot be sped up there are things that can inhibit these functions. The most relevant for those playing sports are (Myofascial) Trigger Points in the muscles. These delay contraction of the muscle for up to 100 ms. There are excellent gains to be had by effectively treating these, removing the inhibition.

Recognition and decision times

As mentioned, most people’s nervous systems and muscles respond at the same speed, +/- a very small amount. The big difference between novice and elite sports people is that the elite interpret and decide to react faster. In this section we will look at the background research, then some practical advice.

In this section:

• what reaction time tests actually measure
• recognition
• decision making
• practical advice

what reaction times actually measure

Most research on reaction times is done with people reacting to stimuli such as lights or sound. For example those tested may have to press a button as soon as they see a light. There is no delay in interpreting the need to react or deciding what to do.

Decision making

In the karate example above those tested needed to interpret the threat on the video, but they were given a simple response. In sport participants need to both interpret the need to react and decide what action to take. This again is where elite sports people are much better.

Concentration and focus

In the scientific trials people were asked to do things such as see how fast they could react when seeing a light or hearing a sound. We can assume that they would be wide awake and focused for the short amount of time it would take. In sports though it may be difficult to maintain such levels of concentration and focus for long periods of time, so anything that could help in this regard (such as getting adequate sleep) will obviously benefit. We are not advocating that people take things to help, but one study of electronic gamers found that caffeine improved the time they took to react by 20 ms (4)⁠.

Practical advice

Training

The research clearly shows that generic drills and exercises cannot improve your reaction times. However, there are big benefits to be had by drills that help recognition and decision making. Our practical advice is to make any drills and exercises as closely related to actual actual playing situations as possible. The stimulus should relate to situations requiring a decision in actual play, while the response should match the neuro-muscular response actually required.

Concentration and focus

Anything that improves the levels of focus should help. These may include:

• getting enough sleep
• higher levels of fitness to minimise fatigue
• motivation and focus training
• avoiding substances harmful to concentration (eg. alcohol, medications and other drugs)

Things that inhibit nerves and muscles

For a typical 200 ms response times ones nerves and muscles must be functioning normally. Anything that slows the transmission of nerve signals of the response of muscles will slow this time.

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.

Effect on coordination

In the simple example above the tennis player with the trigger points would just miss the ball or miss-time the shot. In reality these movement require the coordinated effort of many muscles, and some may have trigger points while others may not. As well as delaying the response this would also affect coordination (6.7)⁠.

An example of effect on coordination

As a simple example, say we have a movement that need two muscles to contract together, but one had a trigger point but the other did not. Your brain would send out messages to both at the same time, but the one with the trigger point would contract 100 ms later.

This is a major cause of shoulder pain

The reality with many muscles it is more complicated, but this illustrates the principle of how timing and biomechanics can be affected. As an example the poor coordination of the muscles controlling the shoulder joint is a major cause of shoulder pain. For more information on thins please see Why shoulder pain keeps coming back and what you can do about it ).

Removing the inhibition

Trigger points are extremely common in the muscles of sports people, and removing them is a scientifically proven way of restoring reaction times and coordination. As an example, in a trail trigger points were found to cause un-coordinated control of shoulder joint movement, but treating those trigger points restored normal coordination (6)⁠. To help you with this, in this section we have:

1. a brief overview of trigger points and therapies
2. practical recommendations

A brief overview of trigger points and therapies

Trigger points are extremely common

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 (8)⁠.

Trigger points cause problems even if not hurting

While they are best known for causing pain, as this article discusses even when not causing pain they can have serious effects. For information about other effects please see our article Your Complete Guide To (Myofascial) Trigger Points .

Trigger points are under-diagnosed

Trigger points do not show up in scans or x-rays so they are too often not diagnosed.

Trigger points are poorly treated

The main problem is that course of treatment such as needles, laser and physical therapies are typically designed (and scientifically proven) to relieve pain rather than to eliminate the trigger points. The consequence of that is although you feel better the trigger points are still there. This means:

• even when not hurting trigger points still delay your muscles plus have the other adverse effects as discussed in Your Complete Guide To (Myofascial) Trigger Points .
• As soon as the trigger points are re-aggravated they start hurting again.

Practical recommendations

As we have seen trigger points are extremely common so most sports people have them, and they cause a detrimental effect even if they are not hurting. The main issue with treatment is that they are designed (and scientifically proven) to just relieve pain. In order to properly eliminate trigger points you need to keep at them for long after they stop hurting. If you’re a professional sports person with therapy provided that should be OK, but for anyone else you’ll probably need a self treatment option. The problem here is that the heavily marketed options such as rollers and massage guns and foam rollers are not very effective and probably more likely to hurt you. For how to properly eliminate your trigger points we recommend the following guides.

Recommended guides

The simple effective way to treat trigger points yourself
_What is the best treatment for 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. Sainz I, Collado-Mateo D, Coso J Del. Effect of acute caffeine intake on hit accuracy and reaction time in professional e-sports players. Vol. 224, Physiology and Behavior. 2020.
5. 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.
6. 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).
7. 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.
8. 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.