Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the existence of a relationship between training load and injury continues to be well supported in the literature and is strongest for subjective internal training load .
The directionality of this relationship appears to depend on the type and timeframe of load measured
Background The relationship between training load and musculoskeletal injury is a rapidly advancing area of research in need of an up date d systematic review .
Identifying high risk loading conditions for in-season injury in elite Australian football players.
OBJECTIVES To examine different timeframes for calculating acute to chronic workload ratio ( ACWR ) and whether this variable is associated with intrinsic injury risk in elite Australian football players . DESIGN Prospect i ve cohort study . METHODS Internal ( session rating of perceived exertion : sRPE ) and external ( GPS distance and sprint distance ) workload and injury data were collected from 70 players from one AFL club over 4 seasons . Various acute ( 1 - 2 weeks ) and chronic ( 3 - 8 weeks ) timeframes were used to calculate ACWRs : these and chronic load categories were then analysed to determine the injury risk in the subsequent month . Poisson regression with robust errors within a generalised estimating equation were utilised to determine incidence rate ratios ( IRR ) . RESULTS Altering acute and /or chronic timeframes did not improve the ability to detect high injury risk conditions above the commonly used 1:4 week ACWR . Twenty-seven ACWR/chronic load combinations were found to be " high risk conditions " ( IRR>1 , p<0.05 ) for injury within 7 days . Most ( 93 % ) of these conditions occurred when chronic load was low or very low and ACWR was either low ( < 0.6 ) or high ( > 1.5 ) . Once a high injury risk condition was entered , the elevated risk persisted for up to 28 days . CONCLUSIONS Injury risk was greatest when chronic load was low and ACWR was either low or high . This heightened risk remained for up to 4 weeks . There was no improvement in the ability to identify high injury risk situations by altering acute or chronic time periods from 1:4 weeks
Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the existence of a relationship between training load and injury continues to be well supported in the literature and is strongest for subjective internal training load .
The directionality of this relationship appears to depend on the type and timeframe of load measured
Background The relationship between training load and musculoskeletal injury is a rapidly advancing area of research in need of an up date d systematic review .