SPORTS AND EXERCISE MEDICINE Open Journal ISSN 2379-6375 PUBLISHERS Diagnosis of Overtraining and Overreaching Syndrome in Athletes Gerasimos V. Grivas, PhD * Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly,Trikala, 42100, Greece * Corresponding author Gerasimos V. Grivas, PhD Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, Trikala, 42100, Greece; Tel. +306936514049; E-mail: grivasger@hotmail.com Article information Received: June 1 st , 2018; Revised: October 14 th , 2018; Accepted: October 15 th , 2018; Published: October 17 th , 2018 Cite this article Grivas GV. Diagnosis of overtraining and overreaching syndrome in athletes. Sport Exerc Med Open J. 2018; 4(3): 74-76. doi: 10.17140/SEMOJ-4-165 Short Communication Copyright 2018 by Grivas GV. This is an open-access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which allows to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and reproduce in any medium or format, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited. 74 Short Communication | Volume 4 | Number 3 | cc O vertraining (OT) is one of the most popular topics between coaches and researchers. The problem of this syndrome has been well-known for 70-years, however, the mechanism that in- duces OT remains unclear. 1-3 Many recent papers have referred to the work of Kreider et al 4 for the defnitions of overreaching (OR) and OT. 1-3 Overreaching: An accumulation of training and/or non-training stress resulting in short-term decrement in performance capacity with or without related physiological and psychological signs and symptoms of maladaptation in which restoration of performance capacity may take from several days to several weeks. Overtraining: An accumulation of training and/or non-training stress resulting in long-term decrement in performance capacity with or without related physiological and psychological signs and symptoms of maladaptation in which restoration of performance capacity may take several weeks or months. These defnitions suggest that the difference between OT and OR is the time that is needed from the recovery. For ex- ample, the recovery from OT syndrome (OTS) may require weeks to months while for OR resolved within days to weeks. Several psychological disturbances such as psychosocial stressors, sleep disorders and illness, decreased vigor, increased fatigue and re- duced performance and the athletes will need weeks or months to recover. 5 Many researchers have tried to examine the effects of overtraining in athletes. 6 Although, as there is no diagnostic tool to identify an athlete with OT or OR syndrome, diagnosis can only be made by excluding all other possible infuences on changes in per- formance and mood state. 1 So, that prevention is still the best cure, and to avoid the onset of OR or OT athletes should record daily their training load, using a daily training diary or training log. 3 Ath- letes, coaches and researchers need to recognize the early warning signs OR or OT. However, there are recognized physiological and biochemical parameters which are associated with overtraining, for example a low iron or testosterone-level. 7 The OT or OR syndrome represents one of the most feared complications in competitive athletes and concern coach- es and researchers, 8 because the recovery of athletes may require weeks to months. The aim of strength and conditioning is to im- prove performance of athletes. Nonetheless, there is a thin line between maximal performance and OT or OR. As a consequence, when an intensive, excessive and extended training are applied con- current with inadequate recovery, many of the positive physiologi- cal alterations associated with physical training are reversed with OT or OR. 2 Overreaching is often used by athletes during a typical training cycle to improve performance. If the intensity, the load and the duration of the training are not reduced, OR leads to OT. 1 However, athletes who are diagnosed with OTS may take months or years to completely recover, this means that an athlete’s career may be seriously compromised and there are many cases that ath- letes stopped the athletic career due to OT or OR. 1 OT or OR is recurrent problem and is often observed in high performance athletes and in different sports. More especial- ly, studies have reported that the symptoms of OTS appeared in >60% of distance runners during their athletic careers, >50% of professional soccer players during a 5-month competitive season, and 33% of basketball players during a 6-week training camp. 2 DIAGNOSIS Diagnosis of OTS and OR is not simple. Unfortunately, diagnosis of OTS cannot be made defnitively with one biomarker, there are