Relationship between GPS workload and injury risk in elite rugby league players

A systematically planned and distributed training program is required for elite athletes to have positive adaptations to training workloads, with minimal risk of injury. Workload-injury investigations in team sports typically quantify workload in absolute terms, for example the workload performed in a week versus injury. However, workload-performance investigations have examined absolute workload performed in one week (referred to as acute workload) relative to four-week chronic workload (i.e. four-week average acute workload). The logic behind this comparison of workloads is the provision of a workload index, which provides an indication of whether the athlete’s recent acute workload is greater, less than or equal to the workload that the athlete has been prepared for during the preceding chronic period. This method is referred to as the acute:chronic workload ratio. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether acute workload and chronic workload could be mapped and modelled to predict injury in elite rugby league players.