Recurrent injuries and illnesses often result in lost training time and have been shown to impair performance in competitive and high-performance athletes. If you have difficulty progressing in your sport due to recurrent medical conditions, you may benefit from a comprehensive medical screening by a sport and exercise physician. Besides a thorough physical examination and certain blood tests (e.g testosterone/cortisol ratio), we will also address potential causes such as low energy availability and certain mental health issues.
A recent study performed at the Australian Institute of Sport amongst Australian Olympic athletes indicates that a relative low energy availability (RED-S), depression symptoms and higher perceived stress are all associated with sports incapacity (time loss) due to illness.
Based on a thorough assessment that needs sometimes be extended with cardiopulmonary exercise testing, a sport and exercise physician can exclude common training errors as well as medical, endocrinological, metabolic or nutritional causes for so called non-functional overreaching (NFOR).
If needed, we can also refer you to a (performance) psychologist and/or sports nutritionist and speak with your coach to address and correct any potential training errors.
