impact of surgical face masks on athletic performance in adolescent handball players

Background: covid-19 transmission in team sports is common, but it’s uncertain if face masks impact handball players’ performance.aim: this study investigated the effects of wearing surgical face masks during handball exercise for four weeks on athletic performance.materials and methods: thirty-four adolescent handball female players and 17 trained females as the control group were selected in this study. players were divided into two groups: the mask group (n= 17; age: 12.63±0.67 years, bmi: 20.61±1.19 kg/m2) and the unmasked group (n= 17; age: 13.45± 1.03 years, bmi: 21.08±1.46 kg/m2), who underwent 4-week training with and without face masks, respectively. performance tests were conducted before and after the training program, which include: countermovement jump (cmj), squat jump (sj), 10m, 20m, and 30m sprint, medicine ball throw, and yo-yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (yo-yoirt1).results: after four weeks, both mask and unmasked groups showed significant improvements in cmj, sj, 10m, 20m, and 30m sprint, medicine ball throw, and yo-yoirt1 (p≤ 0.05).conclusion: this study concludes that adolescent handball players can safely use face masks during physical activity without experiencing negative effects on their athletic performance.