Understanding the association between external training load measures and injury risk in Elite Gaelic football

BACKGROUND: The current investigation examined the association between external training load variables and injury risk within elite Gaelic football. METHODS: Workload and injury variables were collected from thirty-seven elite Gaelic footballers (mean±SDage of 24.2±2.9 years) from one elite squad across a two-season observational period. External training load variables included total distance (m), High speed running (m; ≥17.1 km.h-1), Sprint distance (m; 22 km.h-1), Accelerations (n), Average metabolic power (W.kg-1), high-power distance (m; ≥25 W.kg-1). Cumulative 1- weekly, 2-weekly, 3-weekly and 4-weekly training loads; acute: chronic workload ratio (ACWR) was analysed across specific distributions of low, moderate and high loading with respect to a reference group of the measure quantified. General estimating equations were utilized to understand the association of these variables with injury risk. RESULTS: Strong associations (AUC>0.50) were observed amongst models developed for one weekly loading for relative distance, average metabolic power and high-power indices with similar trends observed for two, three and four weekly which showed a strong positive association within injury risk for all external loading metrics (AUC>0.50), with average metabolic power, and high-power distance showing the strongest association across the three-four week loading scales (AUC>0.60). When the ACWRwas considered for external load measures these showed a positive linear association with injury risk (AUC>0.50). When intensity measures were considered relative distance showed an associated risk for injury across one and two-weekly models but not three and four weekly models. When odds risk association was considered a consistent trend towards moderate loading across external loading measures was apparent within the observed cohort. CONCLUSIONS: The current investigation reports for the first time the injury association for external loading measures within elite Gaelic football. Data show that a range of measures are associated with increased or decreased injury risk depending on the loading scheme applied by coaches within elite Gaelic football.