Increase in the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio relates to Injury Risk
                    in Competitive Runners

Talko Bernhard Dijkhuis; Ruby Otter; Marco Aiello; Hugo Velthuijsen; Koen Lemmink

doi:10.1055/a-1171-2331

International Journal of Sports Medicine, Table of Contents

Int J Sports Med 2020; 41(11): 736-743
DOI: 10.1055/a-1171-2331

Training & Testing

Increase in the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio relates to Injury Risk in Competitive Runners

Authors

Talko Bernhard Dijkhuis

¹University Medical Center Groningen, Center for Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

²Institute of Communication, Media and ICT, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands
Ruby Otter

³Institute of Sport Studies, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands

⁴University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, Section Anatomy & Medical Physiology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Marco Aiello

⁵Institute for Architecture of Application Systems Service Computing, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Hugo Velthuijsen

²Institute of Communication, Media and ICT, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands
Koen Lemmink

⁶University Medical Center Groningen, Center for Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

Abstract

Injuries of runners reduce the ability to train and hinder competing. Literature shows that the relation between potential risk factors and injuries are not definitive, limited, and inconsistent. In team sports, workload derivatives were identified as risk factors. However, there is an absence of literature in running on workload derivatives. This study used the workload derivatives acute workload, chronic workload, and acute: chronic workload ratios to investigate the relation between workload and injury risk in running. Twenty-three competitive runners kept a daily training log for 24 months. The runners reported training duration, training intensity and injuries. One-week (acute) and 4-week (chronic) workloads were calculated as the average of training duration multiplied by training intensity. The acute:chronic workload ratio was determined dividing the acute and chronic workloads. Results show that a fortnightly low increase of the acute:chronic workload ratio (0.10–0.78) led to an increased risk of sustaining an injury (p<0.001). Besides, a low increase of the acute:chronic workload ratio (0.05–0.62) between the second week and third week before an injury showed an association with increased injury risk (p=0.013). These findings demonstrate that the acute:chronic workload ratio relates to injury risk.

Key words

injury and prevention - prediction - rating of perceived exertion

Full Text

References

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