Training Load and Baseline Characteristics Associated With New Injury/Pain Within an Endurance Sporting Population: A...

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Exercise Physiology
• Injury Prevention

Background:

• Training load (TL) management is crucial for endurance athletes.
• Understanding factors associated with new injury and/or pain (IP) risk is vital for performance and longevity.
• Endurance sporting populations (ESP) face unique challenges in managing training loads and injury risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between training load factors, baseline characteristics, and the risk of new injury and/or pain (IP) in an endurance sporting population (ESP).
• To identify specific training load parameters that influence injury and pain risk in athletes across various endurance disciplines.
• To provide evidence-based recommendations for optimizing training load management to minimize injury incidence.

Main Methods:

• Ninety-five endurance athletes from running, triathlon, swimming, cycling, and rowing participated.
• Baseline characteristics were collected via questionnaire.
• Weekly training load and injury/pain data were recorded over 52 weeks.
• Calculations included cumulative TL, acute:chronic workload ratios, and exponentially weighted moving averages.
• A shared frailty model analyzed time to new IP and its association with TL factors and baseline characteristics.

Main Results:

• A low to moderate 7-day lag exponentially weighted moving average (0.8-1.3) was associated with lower IP risk (HR=1.21).
• Low to moderate 7-day lag weekly training load (1200-1700 AU) showed increased IP risk (HR=1.38).
• Moderate to high 14-day lag 4-weekly cumulative training load (5200-8000 AU) was linked to significantly lower IP risk (HR=0.33).
• A history of fewer previous IP episodes (1 episode) in the preceding 12 months was associated with lower IP risk (HR=1.11).

Conclusions:

• Endurance athletes should aim to avoid high spikes in acute training load.
• Maintaining moderate to high chronic training loads appears protective against new injury and pain.
• A history of previous injury episodes is an important factor to consider when prescribing training loads.
• The identified lag between training load factors and injury risk has implications for future training load analysis and injury prevention strategies.