Journal
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE IN SPORT
Volume 21, Issue 6, Pages 579-585Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2017.10.005
Keywords
Football; Team sport; Load monitoring; Global positioning system; Rating of perceived exertion; Injury prevention
Categories
Funding
- Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology-IWT, Belgium [IWT 130841]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives: Research in professional soccer focusing on the relevance of external and internal load indicators for injury prevention is scarce. This study examined the relationship between load indicators and overuse injuries. Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Data were collected from 35 professional male soccer players over two seasons. Following load indicators were examined: total distance covered (TD), distance covered at high speed (THSR; >20 km h(-1)), number of accelerations (ACC(eff); >1 m s(-2)), number of decelerations (DECeff; <-1 m s(-2)), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) multiplied by duration. Cumulative 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-weekly loads and acute:chronic workload ratios (ACWR) were calculated and split into low, medium and high groups. Only overuse injuries were included in the analysis to focus on their specific relationship with the load indicators. Generalized estimating equations were applied to analyse the relationship between load indicators and overuse injuries in the subsequent week. Results: In total, 64 overuse injuries were registered. For cumulative loads, results indicated an increased injury risk for higher 2- to 4-weekly loads as indicated by TD, DECeff, and RPE multiplied by duration. For ACWR, a high ratio for THSR (>1.18) resulted in a higher injury risk. In contrast, a lower injury risk was found when comparing medium ratios for ACCeff (0.87-1.12), DECeff (0.86-1.12), and RPE x duration (0.85-1.12) to low ratios. Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that mainly external load indicators are associated with increased or decreased injury risk. The monitoring of various load indicators is recommended for injury prevention in professional soccer. (C) 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available