title: Individual and combined effects of acute and chronic running loads on injury risk in elite Australian footballers.
abstract: A model that takes into account the current workload, and the workload the athlete has been prepared for, as an acute:chronic workload ratio has been previously used as a novel way to monitor training load and injury risk. Fifty-nine elite Australian football players from one club participated in this 2-year study. Global Positioning System technology was used to provide information on running workloads of players. An injury was defined as any non-contact "time-loss" injury. One-week (acute), along with 4-week (chronic) workloads were calculated for a range of variables. The size of the acute workload in relation to the chronic workload was calculated as an acute:chronic workload ratio. An acute:chronic workload ratio of >2.0 for total distance during the in-season was associated with a 5 to 8-fold greater injury risk in the current [relative risk (RR) = 8.65, P = 0.001] and subsequent week (RR = 5.49, P = 0.016). Players with a high-speed distance acute:chronic workload ratio of >2.0 were 5-11 times more likely to sustain an injury in the current (RR = 11.62, P = 0.006) and subsequent week (RR = 5.10, P = 0.014). These findings demonstrate that sharp increases in running workload increase the likelihood of injury in both the week the workload is performed, and the subsequent week.
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.|School of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Gabbett
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Townshend
authors.affiliation: Centre for Human and Applied Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Hulin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Sport, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: McLellan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001315:Australia; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012420:Running / Q000293:injuries*; D012916:Soccer / Q000293:injuries*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: 
  GPS
  ; competition; monitoring; training; workload