Is there sufficient scientific evidence to understand the symptoms and diagnosis of Overtraining Syndrome in athletes?
There is currently a lack of high-quality scientific evidence to understand the physiological and psychological manifestations of Overtraining Syndrome in athletes.
All studies failed to provide evidence of changes in performance and mood from "healthy" to an overtrained state with evidence of prolonged suppression of performance. While OTS may be observed in the field, little data is available describing how physiological and psychological symptoms manifest. This stems from vague terminology, difficulties in monitoring for prolonged periods of time, and the need for prospective testing. Real-world settings may facilitate the collection of such data, but the ideal testing battery that can easily be conducted on a regular basis does not yet exist. Consequently, it must be concluded that an evidence base of sufficient scientific quality for understanding OTS in athletes is lacking.
Weakley et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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