Do you Play or Do you Train? Insights From Individual Sports for Training Load and Injury Risk Management in Team Sports Based on Individualization

Abstract

[EN] The understanding of the potential causes of musculoskeletal injuries in any competitive sport
\nneeds to address their multifactorial nature, which results from complex associations among
\ndifferent external conditions and modifiable and non-modifiable intrinsic risk factors (Drew and
\nPurdam, 2016; Kalkhoven et al., 2020a). In this context, the cause of any non-contact injury merely
\nresults from a sum of loads generating a force that exceeds the limit supported by the respective
\nbiological tissue (Zernicke and Whiting, 2008). Consequently, it has been suggested that a poor
\nload management is a major risk factor for injury in sport settings (Gabbett, 2016).
\nOne novel monitoring tool for injury risk management is the acute: chronic workload ratio
\n(ACWR). The ACWR is currently in the spot light of sport sciences (Griffin et al., 2020; Maupin
\net al., 2020). While some emerging evidence suggests that it is a valid method to identify an
\nincreased injury risk (Andrade et al., 2020), other authors have pointed out its methodological
\nlimitations and even questioned its validity (Impellizzeri et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Proponents
\nof the ACWR approach argue that athletes are at greater risk of sustaining a time-loss injury when
\nthe ACWR is higher relative to a lower or moderate ACWR (Andrade et al., 2020). In other words,
\nthe ACWR helps to identify critical windows in terms of elevated injury risk based on imbalanced
\ntraining loading as for example sudden spike loads (Bowen et al., 2020).