Lower Extremity Movement Quality and the Internal Training Load Response of Male Collegiate Soccer Athletes

Context: Training load and movement quality are associated with injury risk in athletes. Given these associations, it is important to understand how movement quality may moderate the training load so that appropriate injury-prevention strategies can be used.

Objective: To determine how absolute and relative internal training loads change during a men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) soccer season and how movement quality, assessed using the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS), moderates the relative internal training load.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Division I athletics.

Patients or other participants: One NCAA Division I male collegiate soccer team was recruited and followed over 2 consecutive seasons. Fifty-two athletes (age = 19.71 ± 1.30 years, height = 1.81 ± 0.06 m, mass = 75.74 ± 6.64 kg) consented to participate, and 46 met the criteria to be included in the final statistical analysis.

Main outcome measure(s): Daily absolute internal training load was tracked over 2 seasons using a rated perceived exertion scale and time, which were subsequently used to calculate the absolute and relative internal training loads. Movement quality was assessed using the LESS and participants were categorized as poor movers (LESS score ≥5) or good movers (LESS score ≤4).

Results: The 46 athletes consisted of 29 poor movers and 17 good movers. Absolute (P < .001) and relative (P < .001) internal training loads differed across the weeks of the season. However, movement quality did not moderate the relative internal training load (P = .264).

Conclusions: Absolute and relative training loads changed across weeks of a male collegiate soccer season. Movement quality did not affect the relative training load, but future researchers need to conduct studies with larger sample sizes to confirm this result.