Effectiveness of Acute: Chronic Workload Ratio and Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems in Monitoring Sports Load and Injury of Track and Field Athletes

Objective: To explore the correlation between Acute: Chronic Workload ratio and sports injury of undergraduate track and field athletes over a semester.Subjects: This study selected 18 athletes from the track and field team of Guangzhou Sport University as its subjects, who won first place in team score in Class B Group A of track and field event during the 10th Universities Games of Guangzhou in 2019. Methods: The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) [1] was adopted to record the corresponding values of perceived exertion for each athlete in each training and competition. The workload was the product of the value of perceived exertion and duration (minute) of training and competition each time. The Acute: Chronic Workload ratio was calculated by dividing the total sports load of the present week (acute workload) by the average training and competition load of the previous four weeks (chronic workload). The Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H) [2] was employed to collect the information related to injuries of athletes, which also covered the effect of subsequent training and competition load on injury symptoms.Results: The number of recorded injury cases with an Acute: Chronic Workload ratio ranging from 1.0 to 1.49 was significantly lower than that in other cases. A total of 9 injury cases were reported, of which two involved complete missing of training and competition and the remaining seven were limited participation of training and competition.Conclusion: 1. Acute: Chronic Workload ratio and OSTRC-H are objectively effective in monitoring the sports load and injury of track and field athletes; 2. An Acute: Chronic Workload ratio ranging from 1.0 to 1.49 is conducive to keeping track and field athletes at a better state and reducing the risk of injury; 3. OSTRC-H not merely collects information such as "physical discomfort" or "time-loss injury" as defined, but also covers athletes' condition in subsequent training, which is of high value in practical training and competition; 4. As the Acute: Chronic Workload ratio is calculated by dividing the total workload of the present week by the average load of the previous four weeks, the same value of sports load in a single training or competition might correspond to different intensity and duration of training. Thus, it's worth further exploration on whether the different intensity of load and duration have a varying effect on the injury risk and pattern.