Injury Risk Reduction, Recovery, and Load Management
What this domain tests
This domain tests load management, recovery, injury-risk reduction, and return-to-duty decisions. It expects monitoring and sensible progression, not gadget dependence.
Core rules
- Track external load (distance, load carried, jumps, minutes) and internal load (session-RPE × duration, sleep, soreness, mood).
- Avoid spikes: increase weekly load gradually; use acute:chronic workload as a flag, not a verdict.
- Recovery: sleep 7–9 hours, adequate protein and energy, planned deload every three to five weeks, and lighter days after high-load operations.
- Screen movement and load tolerance; address deficits in ankle and hip mobility, trunk endurance, and grip.
- Return to duty is criteria-based: pain-free function, strength symmetry, task-specific testing, and graded exposure.
Worked example
An officer reports a 40% jump in weekly ruck volume, five hours of sleep, and soreness. The plan cuts ruck volume by 30–40% for one week, keeps one short strength session, prioritizes sleep, then reloads at 10% increments. Reasoning: the load spike and poor sleep raise risk; the deload reduces accumulated fatigue; graded reloading preserves fitness.
Traps
Treating ACWR as exact; ignoring sleep; training through pain; no deload; relying on ice baths instead of sleep; returning to full duty after a single good day.