TY - JOUR T1 - Training load and structure-specific load: applications for sport injury causality and data analyses JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 1016 LP - 1017 DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097838 VL - 52 IS - 16 AU - Rasmus Oestergaard Nielsen AU - Michael Lejbach Bertelsen AU - Merete Møller AU - Adam Hulme AU - Johann Windt AU - Evert Verhagen AU - Mohammad Ali Mansournia AU - Martí Casals AU - Erik Thorlund Parner Y1 - 2018/08/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/16/1016.abstract N2 - DefinitionsTraining loadTraining load represents step count, throws, distance run and/or time spent practising sport. This can be used to calculate a change in training load over time (eg, acute:chronic workload ratio or week-to-week changes), which has been used as a time-varying exposure to sports injury recently.Structure-specific cumulative loadCan be viewed as the sum of step-specific or throw-specific loads that a certain musculoskeletal structure is exposed to during a training session. Estimation of the structure-specific cumulative load per training session involves stepwise or throw-wise quantification of the load distribution and the load magnitude.Structure-specific load capacityCan be defined as a certain structure’s ability to withstand structure-specific cumulative load.How should I schedule my training? How much is too much? Coaches and sports medicine clinicians commonly face such questions when considering training and injury risk. These are highly relevant inquiries, as training load is a necessary cause of sports injury.1 2 To provide answers, our analytical approaches should align with causal frameworks. Changes in training load (eg, acute:chronic workload ratio) has been used as an interesting exposure to injury lately3–5 and promoted as proximal in the causal chain to sports injury.2 6 However, the aetiology behind sports injury development is multifactorial.1 Therefore, more variables (eg, body mass, alignment, diet, strength) than training load are necessary to robustly identify ‘how much is too much’.7 Accordingly, the purpose of this editorial is to describe the differences among the concepts ‘training-load’, ‘structure-specific load’ and ‘load capacity’, including the varied exposures that define them.Sports injury prevention scientists should carefully consider how best to phrase their research questions in aetiological … ER -