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Methods of monitoring internal and external loads and their relationships with physical qualities, injury, or illness in adolescent athletes : A systematic review and best-evidence synthesis
Dudley, Charles Johnston, Rich Jones, Ben Till, Kevin Westbrook, Harrison Weakley, Jonathon
Dudley, Charles
Johnston, Rich
Jones, Ben
Till, Kevin
Westbrook, Harrison
Weakley, Jonathon
Abstract
Background
With the increasing professionalisation of youth sports, training load monitoring is increasingly common in adolescent athletes. However, the research examining the relationship between training load and changes in physical qualities, injury, or illness in adolescent athletes is yet to be synthesised in a systematic review.
Objective
The aim of this review was to systematically examine the research assessing internal and external methods of monitoring training load and physical qualities, injury, or illness in adolescent athletes.
Methods
Systematic searches of SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, CINAHL and SCOPUS were undertaken from the earliest possible records to March 2022. Search terms included synonyms relevant to adolescents, athletes, physical qualities, injury, or illness. To be eligible for inclusion, articles were required to (1) be original research articles; (2) be published in a peer-reviewed journal; (3) include participants aged between 10 and 19 years and participating in competitive sport; (4) report a statistical relationship between a measure of internal and/or external load and physical qualities, injury or illness. Articles were screened and assessed for methodological quality. A best-evidence synthesis was conducted to identify trends in the relationships reported.
Results
The electronic search yielded 4125 articles. Following screening and a review of references, 59 articles were included. The most commonly reported load monitoring tools were session ratings of perceived exertion (n = 29) and training duration (n = 22). Results of the best-evidence synthesis identified moderate evidence of positive relationships between resistance training volume load and improvement in strength, and between throw count and injury. However, evidence for other relationships between training load and change in physical qualities, injury, or illness were limited or inconsistent.
Conclusions
Practitioners should consider monitoring resistance training volume load for strength training. Additionally, where appropriate, monitoring throw counts may be useful in identifying injury risk. However, given the lack of clear relationships between singular measures of training load with physical qualities, injury, or illness, researchers should consider multivariate methods of analysing training load, as well as factors that may mediate the load–response relationship, such as maturation.
Keywords
training load, internal load, external load, adolescent athletes, injury, monitoring, methods, systematic review
Date
2023
Type
Journal article
Journal
Sports Medicine
Book
Volume
53
Issue
Page Range
1559-1593
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open