Table 3

The injury likelihood using the equation derived from studies on three different sports (figure 2) comparing different scenarios of acute and chronic workload

Chronic workload (% of normal average)1104.74.13.63.43.23.33.5
1004.33.73.43.33.33.64.0
903.93.53.33.33.64.24.9
803.53.33.33.74.35.36.6
703.33.33.74.65.87.59.5
603.33.84.96.68.811.614.9
504.05.57.911.014.919.625.1
406.610.114.920.928.236.746.5
3014.923.233.746.561.478.698.0
60708090100110120
Acute workload (% of normal average)
  • For example, if an athlete returned to sport and had a normal 100% loading week (acute workload) but if over the past 4 weeks due to the rehabilitation of their injury had only averaged 40% of their normal load (chronic workload), we could expect the likelihood of suffering an injury in the following week to be 28%.