Workloads and injury risk in Premier League football

The English Premier League is faster and more intensive than ever, requiring an enhanced physical capacity from the players. In addition, the financial rewards for success have never been greater. This has increased the pressure on clubs to produce and develop talented players who can consistently perform under physical stress, whilst remaining injury free. To augment the chance of success, practitioners must prescribe workloads which stimulate positive adaptations, without unduly increasing injury risk. Therefore, the primary aim of this thesis was to understand the relationships between workload and injury in both youth and senior professional football. Chapter 2 investigated the validity, reliability and interchangeability of the systems used to measure workload in this thesis. Chapter 3 determined that the youth and senior squads have different training demands, and were therefore studied separately when identifying the workload-injury relationships. Chapters 4 (youth) & 5 (senior) explored the relative risks associated with given workloads. Both studies found that acute spikes in workload increased the risk of injury; however, this increase could be reduced with progressive increases in the chronic workload. The secondary aim of this thesis was then to determine the effectiveness of informed workload prescription as an injury prevention strategy. By applying the findings from the previous chapters into elite football practice, Chapter 6 found that appropriate workload prescription appears to increase workload tolerance, although it is not sensitive enough to be used as an isolated injury prevention tool.