Bowling loads and injury risk in male first class county cricket: Is ‘differential load’ an alternative to the acute-to-chronic workload ratio?

Abstract

Bowling loads and injury risk in male first class county cricket: Is 'differential load' an alternative to the acute-to-chronic workload ratio? Abstract Objectives: Methodological concerns relating to acute-to-chronic workload ratios (ACWR) have been raised. This study aimed to assess the relationship between an alternative predictor variable named 'differential load', representing the smoothed week-to-week rate change in load, and injury risk in first class county cricket (FCCC) fast bowlers. Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Bowling loads and injuries were recorded for 49 professional male fast bowlers from six FCCC teams. A range of differential loads and ACWRs were calculated and subjected to a variable selection procedure. Results: Exponentially-weighted 7-day differential load, 9:21-day ACWR, 42-day chronic load, and 9day acute load were the best-fitting predictor variables in their respective categories. From these, a generalized linear mixed-effects model combining 7-day differential load, 42-day chronic load, and 9day acute load provided the best model fit. A two-standard deviation (2SD) increase in 7-day differential load (22 overs) was associated with a substantial increase in injury risk (risk ratio [RR] = 2.47, 90% CI: 1.27-4.80, most likely harmful), and a 2SD increase in 42-day chronic load (17.5 overs/week) was associated with a most likely harmful increase in injury risk (RR = 6.77, 90% CI: 2.15-21.33). For 9day acute load, very low values (≤1 over/week) were associated with a most likely higher risk of injury

“You come up with different theories every year”: Practitioner perceptions of injury risk factors and player monitoring practices in elite men’s domestic cricket

“…This came out as one of the top factors influencing player monitoring in the survey, illustrated by one practitioner in the interviews who admitted they come up with different theories each year to developing and monitoring workloads. To illustrate, bowling workload has been shown to be an important factor within cricket, 3–5 , 10 and featured heavily in both survey and interview responses in this study. Participants described widespread use of ACWR 8 , 29 to minimise injury risk, 30 however, there is poor evidence to support ACWR as a risk factor for injury, 31–32 and it has been criticised for failing to account for the decaying nature of fitness and fatigue effects over time.…”

“…33 With the continued debate on suitable calculation methods the use of ACWR should continue to be tested with further investigation warranted into what acute and chronic time periods might be more appropriate for use in cricket. 5 Given the common use of bowling overs, alternatives for monitoring workloads, such as ‘exponentially weighted moving averages’ (EWMA), 34 should also be explored in future research.…”

“…Workload quantifies the demands imposed on an athlete during matches and/or training, 1 and has been shown to be associated with injury risk across many sports including cricket. 2–5 Cricket has differing game formats, with First-Class matches typically scheduled for four days (approx. 24 hours of play per match) and T20 and One-Day matches scheduled for one day (typically 2.5 and 7 hours, respectively).…”

Is the Acute: Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR) Associated with Risk of Time-Loss Injury in Professional Team Sports? A Systematic Review of Methodology, Variables and Injury Risk in Practical Situations

“…Only two studies [34,42] included in this review used the EWMA model and suggested that the EWMA model was a better alternative to rolling averages for assessing injury risk. Some studies show that while both models demonstrate significant associations between ACWR and injury risk [49][50][51], rolling ACWRs may underestimate the injury risk at higher ACWR ranges [49,50,52,53], while others suggest that there are no differences between the rolling averages and the EWMA methods [51]. Studies included in this review support both methods, but when directly compared, the EWMA model shows greater sensitivity.…”

Return to Training and Professional Football Competition After the Sanitary Alert of Covid-19 With Emphasis in the Analysis, Management and Control Control of Training Loads.

“…We can measure the ratio of acute:chronic load in internal load variables (Example: RPE, TRIMP, among others), as well as in external load variables (total distance, distances travelled to sprint, distances travelled at high intensity, number of accelerations / decelerations, etc. ), recommending its analysis in those variables that have a high relationship with the injury index (accelerations and decelerations of high intensity, high speeds, sprint speed, RPE, heart rate> 90%, among others) (Gabbett et al , 2014;Sekiguchi et al, 2018;Tysoe et al, 2020). Its use will give us information about the state of fitness or fatigue of the athlete and can be used as a useful tool for the prediction of sports injuries (Blanch and Gabbett, 2016).…”