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Load management: what it means, how we measure it, why we use it and what the misconceptions are
When it comes to recovering from an injury or improving performance, one of the most important, but often overlooked, factors is load management. You will likely hear us mention it during your appointments, but what does it actually mean, how do we measure it and why is it so important?
What Is load management?
In professional sports and coaching, load management has long been used as a principle to maximise an athlete’s performance and well-being. Every time we move, exercise, lift, or train, we place load (a form of stress) on our body. This isn’t a bad thing — in fact, our bodies need load to adapt and improve (e.g. to become stronger or faster).
In simple terms, load management is all about finding the right balance between doing enough to get stronger and not overdoing it to the point of pain or injury. Doing too much or too little training comes with a similar range of problems: it’s inefficient, often risky, places inconsistent stress on your body and is overall an unsustainable method of achieving a desired recovery or performance.
Inpractice, we use load management principles to plan (ahead) and adjusthow much stress your body experiences and how much time is needed for your bodyand mind to adjust and recover safely.
Furthermore, we differentiate between internal load and external load. External loads refer to all stressors that are applied on you. Internal loads refer to the physiological and psychological response to such load.
How do we measure your load?
There’s a variety of evidence-based tools and methods available to track and manage your training load, which we can practically use. Again, we need to differentiate between monitoring internal and external loads.
External load monitoring tools:
- Frequency of training
- Time/duration of training
- Type of training (e.g. strengthor cardio)
- Time-motion analysis
- Power/Strength output, speed andacceleration
- Objective neuromuscular testing
- Repetition counts
- Distance covered (e.g. kilometres run, swam or cycled)
- Acute-to-chronic load ratio
Internal load monitoring tools:
- Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE-scale)
- Repetitions in reserve
- Heart rate (HR) monitoring
- Sleep
- HR-to-RPE ratio
- Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
- HR recovery
- Less applicable in daily practice, but still important: blood lactate measuring
In short, we want to monitor what we do (external load) and measure how you respond (internal load).
Why is load management so important?
1. Injury risk reduction
Done right, load management will keep injuries at bay and will, at the same time, guide you safely to your best performance.
2. Faster and safer recovery
This is one of the most interesting aspects to understand about load management. Actively managing how much you load your body might test your patience in the beginning, but if confronted with an injury, you will recover faster compared to prolonged rest.
Rest isimportant. However, too much rest can slow down your recovery. Instead, we liketo suggest ‘active rest’, where we guide you through the right amount ofmovement and exercise at the right time — helping your tissues heal,maintaining your strength and cardiovascular fitness as good as we can, whichresults in resuming meaningful activities sooner.
3. Improved performance
Loadmanagement isn’t just for people with an injury. It’s also key for athletes andactive individuals who want to keep performing. Smart training and loadmonitoring help improve endurance, strength, and resilience. You might have heardthis before: “Train smarter, not harder”.
How we use load management
When youbook your appointment with us, we look at a few key points to set up yourrecovery:
- Your starting point: what are your current strength, mobility, and activity levels?
- Your goals: how and when do you want to return to lifting, sport, or pain-freedaily activities?
- Your response to exercise: how does your body feel during and after activity?
- Your lifestyle: how do you sleep? What do you eat? How is your workload? What are your habits to recover?
Common misconceptions regarding load management
1. All injuries can be attributed to load management
The relationship between injuries, performance and load has been extensively researched, but not all injuries can be explained through the lens of load. The reasons can be multifactorial and range from sleep patterns, emotional and lifestyle stressors or biomechanical factors. The net balance of all factors will determine if you exceed your load capacity. In this video GregLehman explains this balance well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgFaOClDZAA
2. We can predict injuriesaccurately with load management
We can’t look into the future and predict if an injury will be prevented. What we can do is set up an appropriate load management structure and monitor your response to this load.
3. Simply knowing the risk of injuries will reduce the risk of injuries
No, but knowing the risk of injury will likely improve your body awareness and improve performance. The biggest determinant in reducing your risk of injury is the balance between the total load and your load capacity. Or, as Greg Lehman explained in the video above: the balance between the amount of water and the size of your cup.
In short:
Load management is one of the most powerful tools in physiotherapy. It helps you to reduce your risk of injury and improve your recovery and performance safely.
At EBPStudio, we use load management principles to guide every stage of your recovery, ensuring you’re always progressing at the right pace for you.
If you’re dealing with an injury or want help managing your activity safely, we’re here to support you. We’ll help you find the perfect balance between activity and recovery, so you can move better, feel stronger, and get back to doing what you love.
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