The psychological factor ‘self-blame’ predicts overuse injury among top-level Swedish track and field athletes: a 12-month cohort study

Abstract

The coping behaviour self-blame replaced training load in an integrated explanatory model of overuse injury risk in athletes. What seemed to be more strongly related to the likelihood of overuse injury was not the athletics load per se, but, rather, the load applied in situations when the athlete's body was in need of rest.

How much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury

“…The findings show that one of the most frequently used measures of load is the session RPE,117 120–124 127 146 150 152 153 175 178 179 or similar cross-products of training duration and subjectively reported intensity 104 105 149. These tools are particularly common in team sports, and have the advantage of combining external (duration) and internal (rating of perceived exertion) load, which may aid in revealing fatigue 26 30.…”

“…These include psychological stressors, such as negative life-event stress,22 32 197–203 daily hassles32 204–207 and sports-related stress (eg, feeling of insufficient breaks and rest, stiff and tense muscles, and feeling vulnerable to injuries),117 133 207 but also personality variables such as trait anxiety,22 32 199 205 208 209 state anxiety,203 stress susceptibility,205 type A behaviours,210 trait irritability205 and mistrust,22 as well as maladaptive coping strategies 22 149 205 211…”

“…Timpka et al 149 recently demonstrated the importance of controlling for the potentially complex interactions between risk factors, when they integrated psychological with physiological and epidemiological data from elite track and field athletes, and found that the maladaptive coping behaviour self-blame replaced training load as a risk factor for overuse injury. The authors suggested that overuse injuries in athletics may not be predicted by the training load per se,104 but rather by high load applied in situations when the athlete is in need of rest.…”

How do training and competition workloads relate to injury? The workload—injury aetiology model

“…Some known risk factors are not explicitly listed (eg, genotype, psychological state, muscle fibre type, etc) and some risk factors are yet to be identified. As just one example, workloads may effect certain psychological variables (eg, commitment to training, self-blame, perceived stress/fatigue, etc), which could subsequently alter match/training behaviour and change injury risk 48 72. Moreover, the interactions/confounding relationships between various risk factors are not detailed.…”

Preparticipation predictors for championship injury and illness: cohort study at the Beijing 2015 International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships

“…Previous studies have shown that illnesses sustained during championships are commonly caused by infection, allergies or are environmentally related,5–7 but no clear risk indicators have been identified. Regarding other types of distress among athletes, psychological and behavioural indicators stand out as early markers in sports where overuse is an important cause of health problems 8 9. Athletes become cognitively aware of perceptions indicating a health problem predominantly if these perceptions are unexpected or cannot be explained.…”