Fatigue and Recovery in Physical Activity: Implications for Health, Function, and Clinical Practice

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite submissions for the Special Issue of the journal Healthcare entitled “Fatigue and Recovery in Physical Activity: Implications for Health, Function, and Clinical Practice”.

Fatigue is commonly defined as a reduced ability to sustain physical and cognitive performance and is closely associated with an increased risk of injury. Sudden, rapid, or prolonged increases in exercise-induced loads may lead to fatigue-related alterations in force production, motor control, and movement efficiency. Progressive fatigue, along with tissue damage and microtrauma accumulation, can impair coordination and postural stability, thereby increasing susceptibility to musculoskeletal injuries.

Fatigue and recovery are key determinants of safe and effective participation in physical activity across a wide range of contexts. Beyond sport performance, these processes influence functional capacity, injury risk, and recovery quality in athletes, recreationally active individuals, older adults, and populations engaging in exercise for health promotion or rehabilitation, underscoring their relevance for health-related outcomes and applied practice in healthcare settings. Accurate assessment and monitoring of fatigue-related responses are therefore essential for identifying delayed recovery, optimizing load management, and reducing injury risk.

This Special Issue aims to present original research and reviews addressing assessment approaches and recovery strategies related to fatigue in physical activity, with particular attention to their implications for injury prevention, and long-term physical health in both health-oriented and athletic populations, as well as their practical relevance for health-focused and clinical practice-informed exercise applications

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. All manuscripts will follow standard journal peer-review practices, and those accepted for publication will appear in “Fatigue and Recovery in Physical Activity: Implications for Health, Function, and Clinical Practice”.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Marek Popowczak
Dr. Dawid Koźlenia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.