Weekly Wellness Variations to Identify Non-Functional Overreaching Syndrome in Turkish National Youth Wrestlers: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The present study aimed at (i) investigating weekly variations in wellness ratings relative to Hooper indicators (HI): fatigue (wFatigue), stress levels (wStress), delayed onset muscle soreness (wDOMS), sleep quality/disorders (wSleep), and wHI across the full preparation season (PS) and (ii) comparing the aforementioned variables between three periods: early-PS, week (W) W1 to W11; mid-PS, W12 to W22; end-PS, W23 to W32. Ten elite young wrestlers were involved in this study (age, 16 ± 0.7 years; height, 163 ± 4.8 cm; body mass, 57.7 ± 9.0 kg; VO2max, 48.7 ± 1.4 mL/kg−1/min−1). Wellness status was monitored daily using the HI questionnaire. The main results were found in W26 (24.2 ± 3.9 arbitrary units (AU)) and W14 (17.9 ± 7 AU) with the highest and lowest wDOMS, respectively. Decreases in wDOMS were reported during the PS. For wFatigue, the highest and lowest values belong to W19 (24.3 ± 3.3 AU) and W32 (16.7 ± 3.9 AU), respectively. In the case of wFatigue, the level increased within the PS. The highest wHI was observed in W19 (88.5 ± 7.7 AU) and the lowest in W32 (72.3 ± 6.1 AU). There were no significant changes between early-PS compared to mid- and end-PS, while significant changes were found for mid-PS in comparison to the end-PS. Changes in wDOMS, wStress, and wFatigue were in line with the changes in Hooper’s scoring. All PS daily monitoring results can provide a great standpoint from which coaches can determine wellness status throughout the season in elite youth level athletes. This information can be used to avoid the risk of injury, overtraining, and non-functional overreaching.