An investigation into training load and health for Track and Field National Team throwing events

Kuvaus:

Varala high performance training centre in Tampere have a collaboration project with Finnish athletics federation, Finnish Olympic committee, Tampere research centre of sports medicine and KIHU Finnish Institute of high-performance sport to investigate Finnish national team throwers interactions between training load and health.A reliable training monitoring system was implemented through the Champions corner application, where the Oslo sports trauma research centre health 2 questionnaire (OSTRC-H2) and a wellness questionnaire was integrated. The data collection period was between September-December 2022 for 14 weeks. The results have shown there was a correlation between health and training load in acute training load, chronic loading, strength volume and throwing volume. Group 1 (no injury or illness) had clear strength volumes difference and stated a higher better chronic loading pattern. Group 2 (had an injury or illness) results stated clear excessive spikes and drops in training load which corresponded to a report of illness within a 4-week period. There were throwing volume differences between the groups. It is important to bridge the gap between coaching and physiotherapy so that health and training are more intertwined. This is the first evidence-based research that is a positive step in developing Finland’s Track and Field throwing disciplines for the future.