A Review of the Injury Pattern of the 2018 Chicago Marathon

Abstract

Marathon racing is increasingly popular and it is estimated that 25 out of every 1000 finishers will seek medical help during their race. Some studies have shown that the most common injuries are musculoskeletal and the volume of runners seeking medical care increases as the race progresses. However, there is a lack of information that illustrates a specific injury pattern along a race course. PURPOSE: To measure the volume and types of injuries sustained by 2018 Chicago Marathon runners at the various medical stations to determine the impact that distance has on injury pattern. METHODS: In this retrospective chart review of records collected at the 2018 Chicago Marathon (N=1016), the diagnoses of runners seeking medical care was taken at 21 course medical tents and 2 finish line tents and categorized as either musculoskeletal, medical, wound care, or other. The data was divided into quartiles: miles 0-10, 10-18, 18-26.2, and finish line. The rate of each diagnosis was then compared between the quartiles using a chi-square analysis. RESULTS: 3.8% of the runners visited the medical tents. Visit volumes had a bimodal distribution in the 2nd and 4th quartiles. 41.6% of runners seeking medical help did so at the finish line compared to 8.6%, 32.8%, and 17.0% in the first three quartiles respectively. 50.6% of all complaints were musculoskeletal, followed by 15.2% medical, 7.9% wound care, and 15.1% other. The percentage runners with musculoskeletal complaints were 24%, 75%, 16%, and 51% in the first, second, third, and fourth quartile respectively. Conversely, the percentage of medical complaints peaked in the 4th quartile with percentages of 1.1%, 5.8%, 1.7%, and 31.0% respectively. When comparing the diagnosis of musculoskeletal, medical, wound care, and other complaints, there was a statistically significant difference in incidence with p<0.001. CONCLUSIONS: The most common presenting complaints were musculoskeletal, followed by medical, other, and then wound care. The largest number of runners seeking medical care were at the finish line and halfway point of the race and so the majority of resources should be focused at these locations. While there was a larger proportion of musculoskeletal complaints near the halfway point of the course, the higher percentage of medical complaints was at the finish line.