Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of the present study was to describe the incidence proportion of different types of running-related injuries (RRI) among recreational runners and to determine their time to recovery.MethodsA sub-analysis of the injured runners included in the 839-person, 24-week randomized trial named Run Clever. During follow-up, the participants reported levels of pain in different anatomical areas on a weekly basis. In case injured, runners attended a clinical examination at a physiotherapist, who provided a diagnosis, e.g., medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), Achilles tendinopathy (AT), patellofemoral pain (PFP), iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) and plantar fasciopathy (PF). The diagnose-specific injury proportions (IP) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using descriptive statistics. The time to recovery was defined as the time from the first registration of pain until total pain relief in the same anatomical area. It was reported as medians and interquartile range (IQR) if possible.ResultsA total of 140 runners were injured at least once leading to a 24-week cumulative injury proportion of 32% [95% CI: 26%; 37%]. The diagnoses with the highest incidence proportion were MTSS (IP = 16% [95% CI: 9.3%; 22.9%], AT (IP = 8.9% [95% CI: 3.6%; 14.2%], PFP (IP = 8% [95% CI: 3.0%; 13.1%]. The median time to recovery for all types of injuries was 56 days (IQR = 70 days). Diagnose-specific time-to-recoveries included 70 days (IQR = 89 days) for MTSS, 56 days (IQR = 165 days) for AT, 49 days (IQR = 63 days) for PFP.ConclusionThe most common running injuries among recreational runners were MTSS followed by AT, PFP, ITBS and PF. In total, 77 injured participants recovered their RRI and the median time to recovery for all types of injuries was 56 days and MTSS was the diagnosis with the longest median time to recovery, 70 days.
Highlights
Running is a very popular type of exercise and the number of runners worldwide has grown over the past decades [1]
A total of 140 runners were injured at least once leading to a 24-week cumulative injury proportion of 32% [95% confidence intervals (CI): 26%; 37%]
The diagnoses with the highest incidence proportion were Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS)
Summary
Running is a very popular type of exercise and the number of runners worldwide has grown over the past decades [1]. In Denmark, it has been estimated that 5% of the adult population, equivalent to 260,000 individuals, suffer from a running-related injury (RRI) on a yearly basis [5]. When evaluated in a population of runners, 1-year injury incidence proportions have been reported in the range from 43.2% to 84.9% in different types of runners [6]. Running injuries were the most common reason for permanently dropping out of a running regime among males, and the third-most common reason among females according to a 10-year prospective cohort study [7]. Direct economic costs of running-related injuries range from 0.3% to 4.6% of national healthcare expenditure [8]; and some injured runners come to suffer from permanent physical disability making them unable to exercise due to pain or discomfort [9,10]. The combination of mental and physical consequences increases the likelihood of lapsing into a sedentary lifestyle during and after injury recovery
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