Understanding Training Load: Physiotherapists’ Guide to Injury Prevention

Load management 

Many injuries we see as physiotherapists are related to training load or how much a person is physically doing. Therefore, load related injuries are arguably preventable!

We all know that in order to increase our performance, we need to train. As a general rule, the more we train the better we get.   

Gabbet (2016) proposed there is a ‘sweet spot’ of training load, where performance is at its highest and risk of injury is reduced compared with ‘over training’. However, it should be noted that ‘undertraining’ also increased an individual’s risk of injury as their tissues have not been appropriately conditioned for the given activity. 

We can measure training load by considering external and internal training loads. 

External: 

• Distance run 

• Weight lifted 

• Intensity of sprints 

Internal: 

• Heart rate response 

• Individuals’ perception of difficulty 

The same external load may elicit a completely different internal training load in two individuals. 

Acute training loads are seen as the most recent last week of training and chronic training loads are calculated as an average of the past 3-6 weeks of training. 

In theory, a higher chronic training load may represent increased conditioning and performance whereas an increased acute training load may represent an individual’s fatigue or risk of injury. 

Acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) has been implemented in a number of studies involving cricket, rugby and soccer. Findings suggest that when ACWR exceeded 1.5, the risk of sustaining an injury was 2-4 times greater. Therefore, it has been proposed that the ‘sweet spot’ between injury risk reduction and optimal performance is an ACWR of 0.8-1.3 Gabbet (2016). 

On the contrary, it has been shown that team sport athletes who performed 18 weeks or more of training before sustaining an injury were at a reduced risk of sustaining a second injury on their return Gabbet (2016). This highlights the importance of a higher ‘chronic’ or long term workload and that balanced preparation over time is key to reducing our risk of injury and improving our performance. 

Obviously, at a community level it is rather difficult to accurately track external loads without advanced technology. However, being aware of factors such as distance, speed, surface, frequency of training and footwear is important when considering your overall load.

If you are experiencing recurrent injuries or are just wanting some guidance on managing your training load, speak to us @bodyfit.life