Acute Chronic Workload

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00:07:17:03 - 00:07:44:22
Rikke
Hello and welcome to today's session. I'm Rikke I'm founder of Next 11. And in today's sessions we're going to look through how we got to manage player load in an increasingly packed schedule. So it's becoming new normal to have two matches in a week for longer periods of the season. And that, of course, raises the question on how do you keep your players fit with more and more matches coming in today?

00:07:44:22 - 00:08:09:12
Rikke
We are lucky to have Andreas join us. He will walk us through a way to monitor that balance between an increasing player load on one hand and then on the other hand the need for us. So and is physical coach for elite women in the top National League in Denmark. He is a master in sports science and he's also a sports scientist here with us at next 11.

00:08:09:15 - 00:08:19:28
Rikke
And I guess the first question I would have to you is like, how did you how did you even get hooked on sports science?

00:08:20:01 - 00:08:46:19
Andreas
Thank you, Rikke I think it started during my master's at university. I was lucky enough to be in the sports science department at one of the leading teams in Denmark, which was really interesting and of course got the opportunity to work at next 11 as a sports scientist. So so that's been a big interest of mine for for a long time and feeling really lucky to work with it.

00:08:46:26 - 00:08:47:22
Andreas
Yeah.

00:08:47:24 - 00:09:09:14
Rikke
Good to have you here today. So for the next 15 to 20 minutes and last is going to walk us through a croup, acute chronic workload and the chat is open. So if you have any questions, please ask your questions to just Jeff. Then I will bring them into the Q&A that sits right after the presentation. But I guess we should just get started.

00:09:09:14 - 00:09:18:21
Rikke
And then lastly, share with us how on earth do you then manage player load in a much more packed schedule Now?

00:09:18:23 - 00:09:52:22
Andreas
Yeah. All right. So I would just like to present the agenda for this webinar regarding the acute chronic workload ratio. So first of all, I'm going to introduce the ratio as a feature in the app, which is fairly new. And afterwards I'm going to talk about how you effectively integrate sports and practices in teams, especially with limited time availability.

00:09:52:24 - 00:10:28:24
Andreas
We're going to dive into a bit of injury occurrence in elite football and how that relates to load continuity afterwards. We're going to focus more on how that looks in the app. When you have, for example, more games or how do you generally interpret the data in the team app and the acute chronic workload ratio? Finally, I'm going to announce a new feature that is coming to the app, which will further elaborate on how you it's a workload in your place.

00:10:28:26 - 00:10:56:11
Andreas
So the acute chronic workload ratio, this is how it looks in the app. This is the the view that coaches strength and conditioning coaches are present too when they open the feature. So as you can see, the horizontal bars represents the the ratio itself and ranks the players dependent on how big of an acute chronic workload ratio they have.

00:10:56:13 - 00:11:32:24
Andreas
So it gives a really quick insight into the workload of each player and it's a tool. So it allows coaches to get insights to each of the players readiness to participate in upcoming sessions of both training and matches. And it is based on previous workloads and that impact how ready to participate in sessions. So what we are trying to do with this feature is that we are aiming to make data analysis tools more easily available for coaches.

00:11:32:27 - 00:12:05:07
Andreas
So that is why it's integrated directly in the app Coaches only need to open the app after session and this feature will be updated, giving the coaches new insights into the current workload profile and readiness of the players and I will get into more depth of how this looks and how you can use these data. So first of all, how do we derive these these metrics?

00:12:05:07 - 00:12:35:00
Andreas
How do we derive the acute chronic workload ratio? I would just touch on this in brief. And so basically the ratio is derived from and explains the relationship between an acute workload face, so that seven days representing a week and the chronic workload. So that represents 28 days. So we have a four week period where we have all the sessions that's placed in between these and in between these weeks.

00:12:35:00 - 00:13:11:13
Andreas
And by that we derive the workload ratio based upon the chronic and acute workload. And so when we have these data, we have a 28 day period, we have a seven day period, then we calculate the acute chronic workload ratio by dividing the acute workload, by the chronic workload. So just to provide an example of how this would be if we had a four week period and the average workload for all the four weeks would be 286.3, the acute workload.

00:13:11:13 - 00:13:42:15
Andreas
So the most recent seven days would be 310. Then that would give us an acute chronic workload of 1.08, and that's how we derive the the ratio. So just returning on the feature in the app and how this looks. So what this does basically, as I also mentioned briefly before, it gives quick accessibility to the workload profile of each player.

00:13:42:15 - 00:14:21:26
Andreas
So it's an easy to use load monitoring tool that updates automatically and gives insight into the variability and an impact of how the how big a workload there was in the previous trainings and matches. So inclines and declines will be showed in how far the horizontal bars are going. So the ratio itself, as we can see that the data we have on the screen, the player at the top has a really high workload ratio, which is which can be explained by the numbers that we have on the right side.

00:14:21:28 - 00:14:52:28
Andreas
So if we start with look at the red circle, then we have a plus 27 number and that that explains the increase or decrease in the number of low impact load points between the acute workload compared to the chronic workload. So as we can see, it says plus plus 27. So that means that the player has gone from a fairly lower chronic workload to a higher acute workload.

00:14:52:28 - 00:15:19:00
Andreas
So that's why it's plus 27. And this is a really good insight for for coaches to have because that that tells us that there's been an elevation in the workload that the players undergone and and contrarily, we can also see if the workload is decreasing and by how much the light blue circle highlights the acute chronic workload of the acute workload.

00:15:19:00 - 00:16:06:27
Andreas
Sorry. And for the seven days the chronic workload is placed on the right and highlighted by the doctor and circle the numbers that can tell you whether the load is decreasing or increasing and by how much. So integrating the acute chronic workload ratio into your daily monitor in practice. So what we know is by own experience and by talking to two clients is that the process of gathering and structuring and making informed decisions on a variety of metrics can be comprehensive.

00:16:06:27 - 00:16:32:13
Andreas
It can be time consuming and often oftentimes this time is spent off use on the pitch or on other things. If you don't have the capacity to have a data analysis or a scientist to care, take these processes. So what we are aiming to do, as you can see on the right and is to shorten this cycle that you see.

00:16:32:13 - 00:16:57:03
Andreas
So that's an on field session data gathering. So that's a typical practice that you match. You get the data second step you need to structure the data to, to then make the analysis as you have made the analysis, then you need to make the informed decision, which then will impact the next session. So what we are trying to do is, is step a bit over.

00:16:57:05 - 00:17:34:25
Andreas
Step number two, also a bit of step number three, as you have the data already updated, you have you don't need to do anything else, then shut down. You open the app and there's the updated analysis. So the integration of the acute chronic level ratio in the app gives the practitioner a really easy access to a wider profile over a longer period of time and how ready they are to cope with upcoming workloads.

00:17:34:27 - 00:18:18:19
Andreas
So if we look into the the need for load monitoring, you need level football and why we need to profile the players when looking at their workloads. One of the first things that come to mind is the injury prevention side. So just in brief to to look at the injury incidents of female soccer players, a recent study has shown that an elite level female football team can expect 35 injuries, resulting in time away from 1.5 inch group of player, whereas that's a fourfold greater amount of injury being sustained during matches compared to training sessions.

00:18:18:21 - 00:18:49:16
Andreas
If you look at the elite level male players, they have an injury incidence of 6.2 injuries per 1000 players with 2.8 of these sustained during training sessions and 32.8 during match play. And as you can see on the on the data, on the rate that's derived from that particular study that really emphasizes the magnitude in how big of a workload it is to participate in a match.

00:18:49:18 - 00:19:24:10
Andreas
And even so, when we have two matches per week, it really calls for effective load monitoring. And yeah, so next up is the especially knee injuries. If we look at that, we we really want to prevent those ACL ruptures received a lot of attention these moments so this also results in a really really big layoff time from game or session training session participation and both for male and female players.

00:19:24:12 - 00:20:02:22
Andreas
And next is the economical burden of these injuries as injured players and typically the long lasting injuries impose a substantial financial burden on the clubs due to the player's lack of availability to train and play matches. And lastly, and this is important to monitor the workload because if we look at the performance levels, teams would typically have a higher player availability tends to perform better as well due to this.

00:20:02:24 - 00:20:31:26
Andreas
So if we look a bit into the risk factors that leads up to injuries and how we can utilize the acute chronic workload ratio and we can look at the number of matches that we spoke a bit about before, before I do that, I would just like to also highlight that load is a multifactorial note. It's multifactorial and that means that one single tool can hardly stand alone in predicting injury.

00:20:32:02 - 00:21:08:25
Andreas
But it's it's about gathering specific tools that can help you understand the workload better and better prepare players for, for example, in periods with elevated fixed conditions, injury incidents, when there's performed one or two matches per week, we can look at the data on the right again. And whereas there were 4.1 injuries per 1000 playing hours when a particular team participated in one match per week, whereas it was 25.6 per 1000 players when there was too much.

00:21:08:28 - 00:21:46:29
Andreas
So again, the injury risk significantly elevates when we have two matches per week calling for again effectively load monitoring where we can utilize the acute chronic workload ratio as a tool to so see continuity and yeah, how well the load is linked to the load. That leads us to the next thing, which is load continuity. So research had suggested that week to week workloads exceeding 10%.

00:21:47:02 - 00:22:35:29
Andreas
So if you go into a week that has above 10% and higher workload than compared to the previous, that elevates the risk of sustaining an injury. Additionally, if you stay within 5 to 10% when compared to the previous weeks, this is shown to have a lower intra incidence. So maintaining continuity in how you plan the sessions, how you and planned the loading of players over each week is really important and and finally studies has also suggested that players who are chronically exposed to higher workloads has a greater tendency towards being at reduced risk of sustaining an injury.

00:22:36:01 - 00:23:19:11
Andreas
So that means without mitigating the amount of fluctuations from week to week, it's really important in teams and not having too big of spikes when you go from one week to another in workload. So how would these spikes look in the app? As you can see on the left is an overview of five weeks and that's a reduced amount of workload going from week 1 to 3, followed by marked increase in week 45 and which also elevates the the acute chronic workload ratio.

00:23:19:14 - 00:23:44:21
Andreas
So that in the in the app we can see the top player and and this is fictive data the top player has a higher acute workload ratio or acute workload as you can see as the number of 83 compared to the chronic workload which is 39 and which has then resulted in the acute chronic workload ratio and exceeding two.

00:23:44:23 - 00:24:19:25
Andreas
And so that's how you would highlighted or how it would be highlighted in the acute chronic model ratio in the app. And this is, as I mentioned before, according to the injury incidence, based on not maintaining load continuity across weeks, it's really important to keeping track of. So diving further into these spikes and how they impact the workload on players, we can look at players who are in the face of returning to play.

00:24:19:27 - 00:24:50:00
Andreas
And so for example, if we have a player who sustained an injury, as you can see down on the left during week one, they have two weeks of fairly low or really low actually workload, but often a bit of a progression during week four. And then finally during the week five progressing too much, which also is shown in research and suggested that this elevates the risk of re injury.

00:24:50:00 - 00:25:17:21
Andreas
So we want to gradually progress the workloads from week to week and not have these acute spikes which also elevates the acute workload. As you can see on the top left, that's a decrease in the app compared to the Chronic. So this is also how you can use this feature in on the field and in your data analysis post session.

00:25:17:23 - 00:25:44:19
Andreas
So we want to keep we want to reduce the acute spike compared to the chronic fatigue. So finally, this also means that we recommend you to stay in the green as you could say. So in the app you saw there was a green zone in the middle with a C, which is the optimal range for for the workloads.

00:25:44:21 - 00:26:13:15
Andreas
So this is also our recommendation maintaining load continuity during the weeks, avoiding these really high spikes in workload as we want the athletes to be able to. So this also means if you have a physical distance of two matches per week, this calls for further need for recovery, which you can also use to achieve chronic problem ratio to highlight many teams and the pre season right now.

00:26:13:18 - 00:26:56:25
Andreas
So what we also recommend is a gradual progressive overload. And and as I mentioned before, our studies has emphasized that staying below or at around 10% in increasing workload from the previous week has shown to and make the players be in a position of reduced risk of sustaining an injury. And finally, we also recommend that players maintain a higher chronic workload if that fits during the training stages of course, and contextual factors.

00:26:56:28 - 00:27:30:00
Andreas
So finally we look at some of these new load monitoring features that I that I briefly mentioned at the beginning. So shortly we will have the ability for players to register an app following every session. And so that means a number from 1 to 10 ranking how hard they perceived the session to be. And this is a really valuable tool for coaches as they get insight into the individual perceived response to this.

00:27:30:02 - 00:28:13:19
Andreas
And so the particular session and giving more granularity into how the workload is perceived and then they can further and discuss how their upcoming workloads should be and should be dosed. So also we look at the index which constitutes our wellness scheme that will be added to the player and coach app as well. So every morning players will be presented with the ability to to highlight their muscle fatigue levels, sleep quality, sleep quantity, general fatigue, and also the ability to write a comment.

00:28:13:22 - 00:28:53:12
Andreas
And these features will also be in the app. So as soon as the coach opens their, they can go into the wellness wellness section and see how the players fit or how they perceive themselves to be fit for that upcoming training. So yeah, these are the new features that we will bring to to your coaches, our players readiness to train.

00:28:53:14 - 00:29:18:18
Rikke
So Andreas, thank you so much for this walkthrough. It's a complicated topic, but is the most sought after topic. I think that maybe one of the most important questions to ask, and I believe a question many people will like this right now is like, So do you think that the acute chronic workload can actually predict injuries?

00:29:18:20 - 00:29:43:19
Andreas
As I mentioned before, I don't think that you can use one single tool to predict injuries. I think that the acute chronic workload ratio can be a part of of a load monitoring set up. So it gives you insights that's really valuable. And then there's also contextual factors like training, age, recovery status, nutrition status and how ready they are to participate.

00:29:43:22 - 00:29:51:14
Andreas
But it's about choosing the right tools to give you the right insights into how to play that. Yep.

00:29:51:17 - 00:30:13:12
Rikke
So when you work with acute chronic workload, how do you feel that they support all the other metrics that you look into in your daily work when you need to decide the perfect load for each player on a daily level, any insights on how they can be integrated?

00:30:13:15 - 00:30:54:26
Andreas
Yeah. So if it's regarding application to other metrics, it's it can be used to other metrics as well. So it can be used on the AP, it can be used on our explosive zone, for example, to, to see how will we maintain load continuity during the weeks. And so and that is also, if you want insights into a particular type of explosive work and see how that workload very sick across weeks and try to reduce the amount of significant spikes you have from week to week, then you can also use the acute chronic workload ratio based on other metrics.

00:30:54:26 - 00:31:11:00
Andreas
So what we do is and utilizing the player load and describing how the player load varies across from week to week. As we say, it's the sum of all.

00:31:11:03 - 00:31:17:24
Rikke
We have a lost connection, I think. Are you back in last.

00:31:17:27 - 00:31:18:17
Andreas
I'm yeah.

00:31:18:19 - 00:31:26:12
Rikke
Yeah. Good. So I think we lost the last part of your sentence. Maybe you can just say again.

00:31:26:14 - 00:31:54:00
Andreas
Okay. Okay. So what? I can just briefly say it again. So yeah, the acute running very low ratio can also be applied to other metrics, and it's about choosing what what you want to look at so you can use it on our explosive, so on as well to see how the load varies from week to week and with the aim of not and not overload players and not load players as well.

00:31:54:00 - 00:32:08:04
Andreas
So maintaining this load continuity and if you want to increase workload within a specific capacity, you can see how that increases from week to week and that you can do use the acute chronic workload ratio to Yeah, yeah.

00:32:08:06 - 00:32:31:12
Rikke
So I guess now you are, you're accustomed to working with acute chronic workload, but if you want to get started and start building that into your daily practice, do you have any recommendations, any daily habits that you that you do to get started and, and have a view of that acute chronic load?

00:32:31:15 - 00:32:50:21
Andreas
Yeah, and I would say we made that easy by integrating it in the app. So as soon as you look at the app, you open your app before a training session, then you get the updated view of the acute chronic workload ratio of all players. So start by looking into it. We also made a post on it describing it.

00:32:50:23 - 00:33:07:11
Andreas
There will be this webinar as well and but there's no need to look into all the other places for the acute kind of workload ratio as we have it in the app rates use and ready to interpret the workload data.

00:33:07:14 - 00:33:30:12
Rikke
And then then I was wondering, so acute chronic workload is all about that running consistency for the past 28 days, right? So here you have a player and that player missed a training for whatever reason. Like how does that affect acute chronic workload.

00:33:30:15 - 00:33:54:25
Andreas
Yeah. So if data are missing that, of course it doesn't provide the whole picture of the player's actual workload. What we did in the app is that we have give coaches the ability to data if they want to from sessions that they have used before. Maybe they didn't plug in the sensor so it run out of battery or something like that.

00:33:54:28 - 00:34:06:29
Andreas
So if it wasn't minus three training, they have all the minus three trainings to look at and we know the values for those. And so we can always assist coaches in getting simulated data.

00:34:07:01 - 00:34:29:04
Rikke
Yeah, Okay. So thank you very much in players and thank you everyone for joining. If you want to see this session again, you can find the link on where to find it in the chat and it will be ready by tomorrow. And also Andreas and myself will be back in two weeks time on January 21st to show you even more on the AP scores and the world in the sports.

00:34:29:06 - 00:35:28:19
Rikke
So see you then. Bye. Have a good day.

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