Tehran University of Medical Sciences Acta Medica Iranica 0044-6025 55 5 2017 07 11 324 332 EN Farzin Halabchi Sports Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mahdi Abarashi Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine, School of Medicine , Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Ali Mansournia Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Tohid Seifbarghi Sports Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2016 08 28 2017 01 31 In this article, we investigated the effectiveness of inhaled salbutamol withtherapeutic dose on the sport-specific performance of non-asthmatic young football players. In a double-blinded, randomised placebo controlled trial with 2-treatment, 2-period crossover design, twenty participants who were non-asthmatic junior professional football players were randomly allocated to two groups. Fifteen minutes before sport-specific fitness testing, each group randomly received 2 inhalations (200 micrograms) of salbutamol or placebo, respectively. After 1 week wash-out period, each participant has tested again, this time with the alternative inhaler. The primary outcomes were the differences between salbutamol and placebo groups in six tests of 7×30-m repeated sprint, Loughborough soccer dribbling, vertical jump, agility, Loughborough soccer passing, 20-m multistage shuttle run. A total of twenty players did two test batteries completely. There was no significant difference between salbutamol and placebo users in the tests [Treatment effect (CI95%); 7×30 sprint: -2.4 (-7.6-2.9), dribbling: -3.8 (-12.2-4.5), vertical jump: -1.2 (-3.7-1.3), agility: -0.4 (-0.9-0.1), passing: 0.2 (-12-12.4), shuttle run distance: -112 (-503.2-279.2)]. Furthermore, no period or carry-over effects were detected. It seems that single therapeutic dose of inhaled salbutamol (200 micrograms) does not appear to improve football related performance. https://acta.tums.ac.ir/index.php/acta/article/view/5850 https://acta.tums.ac.ir/index.php/acta/article/download/5850/4939