title: How much is too much? (Part 2) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of illness.
abstract: The modern-day athlete participating in elite sports is exposed to high training loads and increasingly saturated competition calendar. Emerging evidence indicates that inappropriate load management is a significant risk factor for acute illness and the overtraining syndrome. The IOC convened an expert group to review the scientific evidence for the relationship of load-including rapid changes in training and competition load, competition calendar congestion, psychological load and travel-and health outcomes in sport. This paper summarises the results linking load to risk of illness and overtraining in athletes, and provides athletes, coaches and support staff with practical guidelines for appropriate load management to reduce the risk of illness and overtraining in sport. These include guidelines for prescription of training and competition load, as well as for monitoring of training, competition and psychological load, athlete well-being and illness. In the process, urgent research priorities were identified.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute for Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Research, Section Sports Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwellnus
authors.affiliation: Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Torbjørn
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8863-4574
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soligard
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Department, Aspetar, Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Juan-Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Department, Aspetar, Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar Department of Sports Medicine, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway Olympic Training Center (Olympiatoppen), Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Roald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bahr
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway Olympic Training Center (Olympiatoppen), Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Clarsen
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Department, Aspetar, Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: H Paul
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Dijkstra
authors.affiliation: School of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Tim J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Gabbett
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gleeson
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6883-1471
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hägglund
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute for Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Research, Section Sports Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Janse Van Rensburg
authors.affiliation: Human Physiology Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meeusen
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Orchard
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Association, Amersfoort, The Netherlands Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports, IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health, VUmc/AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Babette M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Pluim
authors.affiliation: World Rugby, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raftery
authors.affiliation: Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Budgett
authors.affiliation: Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Sports Medicine, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engebretsen
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D056352:Athletes / Q000193:education; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000592:standards; D000068958:Return to Sport / Q000502:physiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013178:Sports Medicine; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014195:Travel; D016526:Workload
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Illness; Overtraining; Overtraining and burnout; Training; Training load