Graduation Term

2021

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Kinesiology and Recreation

Committee Chair

Dale Brown

Abstract

Purpose: The goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between the acute:chronic training load ratio and incidence of injury within a women’s collegiate soccer team over the course of their regular season. Methods: Thirty female collegiate soccer players wore Polar Team Pro heart rate monitors over the course of their season with eight sustaining injury. Two injuries were season ending, four injuries kept athletes out multiple weeks, and two injuries kept athletes out less than one week. Training load and distance were tracked for all individual practices, team practices, and games. Data was extracted from the Polar Team Pro website and exported into Microsoft Excel. Total training load and distance was calculated for the respective “current week” of the season and divided by the previous four weeks to calculate the acute:chronic training load ratio. For the current week, total training load and distance would be totaled for all athletes up to the day of injury. Injuries that occurred on Sunday were classified as last day of the week, while injuries that occurred any other day were classified as middle of the week. Averages of all healthy athletes’ data were compared to the injured athlete’s data every week injury was recorded, with higher differences found in the middle of the week versus the end of the week. Results: For injuries that occurred at the end of the week, the average acute:chronic ratio difference between healthy athletes and the injured athletes was 0.073 ± 0.05 units for the training load ratio and 0.069 ± 0.03 units for the distance ratio. These athletes averaged the 15th highest acute:chronic ratio for both acute:chronic ratios out of thirty total athletes. These differences increased for injuries that happened during the week, as the average difference for the training load ratio was 0.087 ± 0.06 units and 0.139 ± 0.11 units for the distance ratio. These athletes averaged the 11th highest acute:chronic ratio for both acute:chronic ratios out of thirty total athletes. Conclusion: Measuring the acute:chronic training load ratio the way it was done in this study was not helpful in minimizing injury risk. The rolling average method of measuring the acute:chronic ratio needs continued research with finding zones to best minimize injury for athletes.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2021.20210719070603183664.30

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